Naruto 1. Prologue

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfiction

Typical Disclaimer: (Insert randomly stupid comment about what I'd change if I owned Naruto.)

Real Disclaimer: Naruto and all the characters and settings therein are the creative and legal property of Masashi Kishimoto. This story is being written without permission and without intent of profit. The plot is, to the best of my knowledge, my own.

"Give the scroll to me, Naruto!"

"Naruto, you can't let him have it!"

Uzumaki Naruto's mind was consumed by a torrent of conflicting thoughts and emotions as he turned back and forth between the two speakers. The first, Mizuki-sensei, was smirking down at him from a high tree branch, while Iruka-sensei, the second speaker, was pinned to the wall of a small wooden shed by several kunai, one of which was buried deep into his right leg.

The whole day had seemingly gone from bad to worse. After failing his genin exam for the third time that morning, Naruto had fallen into a deep depression until Mizuki had come to him with a secret. He'd said that if Naruto managed to steal the village's scroll of secret techniques and learn them, he'd still be able to become a genin.

He succeeded in getting the scroll, and then after practicing for a while, managed to master the first technique right before Iruka had shown up. For some reason, he'd seemed awfully surprised when Naruto had told him about Mizuki's special test.

But now everything seemed to be falling apart.

"Listen to me, Naruto," Iruka begged while prying the kunai from his leg. "Mizuki tricked you into stealing the scroll so he could take it for himself! The whole 'test' was just a sham!"

Mizuki laughed. "Don't listen to a word he says, Naruto. He's just scared. You can see it in his eyes." He pointed toward his fellow chunin just to prove his point. "He doesn't want you to have that scroll because he doesn't want you getting stronger."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What?" He turned back to Iruka, who in turn was still glaring up at Mizuki.

"In fact," he continued. "Neither Iruka, the Hokage, nor anyone else in this entire village even want you to become a genin."

"That isn't true, Mizuki!" Iruka shouted.

"Oh, isn't it?" he asked mockingly. "Then tell me, Iruka: Why has the final test for the genin exam these last three times been Bunshin no Jutsu when you know full well that it's Naruto's worst technique?"

"That's not the reason!"

Mizuki gave him another mockingly shocked look. "It's not? Well what other reason could you have for continuously using Bunshin no Jutsu for the final test when there are several other techniques that could be used instead? Henge...Kawarimi...hell, we've even passed students for performing a simple Shunshin no Jutsu in the past. And here you will stand there and say that you have no ulterior motives for targeting only Naruto's weakness among all the students?"

Naruto could feel chills running up and down his body from the way the conversation was going. Iruka may have been harder on him than most of the other students, but he wouldn't have blatantly tried to keep him from becoming a ninja.

Would he? The look on Iruka's face showed of barely repressed guilt. But...no, he still couldn't believe it. It was only yesterday that Iruka had taken him out for ramen. That had probably been the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for him in his whole life. Why would he do that unless...

Unless he already knew that Naruto was going to fail his exam and was just trying to cheer him up beforehand. Naruto was thinking so much he almost missed the rest of the conversation that was still going on.

"The only reason I treat Naruto harder than the others is because he has the lowest marks in the academy," Iruka answered. "I have to make sure that he's fully ready to become a ninja before I pass him or he'll just be in over his head."

Mizuki suddenly turned very serious. "And you're saying that it has absolutely nothing to do with your parents, Iruka?"

A look of pain washed over Iruka's face, while one of bewilderment appeared on Naruto's.

"Parents? What do I have to do with them?"

"Don't say a word, Mizuki!" Iruka demanded. "You know the law!"

_Law?_ Naruto wondered silently. Now there was some sort of law he didn't know about? Why was everything so confusing all of a sudden? Naruto could feel a headache, as well as a strange pain in his abdomen, starting to build.

"Naruto," Mizuki said quietly after a slight pause. "How many times have you had to ask yourself, 'What have I done? What did I ever do to make an entire village hate me?' I imagine it must have been many times, because we both know that their hatred runs much deeper than the results of a few harmless pranks, correct?"

"Mizuki!" Iruka shouted.

"Shut up!" Mizuki spat. "Why should Naruto be the only one left in the dark? Doesn't he deserve to know the truth?"

"But the Hokage-!"

"You want to know the truth, don't you Naruto?" Mizuki asked, ignoring Iruka's continued pleas.

The need to sort out all of the confusing thoughts in his head coupled with the natural curiosity of a young boy made Naruto immediately start nodding his head. "Yes, tell me!"

"I won't let you!" Iruka yelled, sprinting forward and up the tree to where Mizuki stood. Mizuki watched, chuckling lightly as Iruka grabbed a kunai and slashed at his face. Before it could make contact, he blocked with a kunai of his own and sent a sharp kick into Iruka's injured knee, following it with a fast jab to his chin. The scar-faced chunin let out a croak of pain as he lost his initial balance and tumbled unceremoniously to the ground.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called to his fallen teacher. He moved forward to see if he was okay but was cut off when Mizuki landed in front of him. He took a small step back before the older man placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, twelve years ago a nine-tailed demon fox attacked the village. The fox killed over one hundred villagers, two of which were Iruka's parents."

Naruto struggled to hold down the growing nervousness inside him, but was unable to keep himself from shivering. "S-so...what's that have to do with me? I mean, I know about the Kyubi. He attacked the village and the Yondaime sacrificed himself to kill it."

"Not kill, Naruto," Mizuki corrected, letting a small grin form on his face. "Seal. The Kyubi was sealed away, within the body of a newborn child."

His shaking grew worse, his subconscious already beginning to understand before the rest of his mind. "N...newborn?"

"You, Naruto."

Time seemed to stand still for Naruto upon hearing those words. "I...demon...?" Realizing he didn't even seem capable of rational thought anymore, he simply turned his gaze to the ground below him, lost in a trance as all of the pieces began to fit themselves together.

All the cold glares he received, all of the threats and abuse, both physical and emotional, and the loneliness...

Without even thinking, he slowly reached up and placed his hand against his stomach, right where his ugly 'birthmark' was. As much as he wanted to deny it, shout at the top of his lungs that it wasn't true, call Mizuki a liar, deep down he knew it was true.

He was still lost in his stupor when Mizuki placed another hand on his other shoulder.

"I know it's hard to accept, Naruto, but now you know the truth. You carry the Kyubi inside you. That's why everyone in the village hates you so passionately. That's why Iruka and the others don't want you to succeed as a ninja. And that's why, no matter how hard you work and how deeply you dream, you will never be made the great Hokage and be acknowledged by all your doubters, because no matter what you do, no one is going to see Uzumaki Naruto. All they're going to see is the container of the demon fox that ruined so many of their lives."

Each word spoken felt like a knife wound piercing all over Naruto's body, the last part about not becoming a Hokage he felt right in the center of his heart.

"And that is also why..." Mizuki continued softly. "I now have to kill you."

Before the statement had even registered, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his side as Mizuki kicked him with full force, sending him crashing into the trunk of a tree where he crumpled limply to the ground.

A light chuckle escaped the throat of the white-haired traitor. He casually picked up the discarded forbidden scroll with one hand, and grabbed one of the giant shuriken from his back with the other.

"I can't say that you haven't been very helpful, monster. But I'm afraid that from this point onward you'd just be getting in my way." He began twirling the shuriken over his head. "Enjoy your eternal Hell, demon!"

He brought his arm down to let the shuriken fly, but was stopped when a recovered Iruka grabbed his arm, causing the shuriken to sail off harmlessly in the wrong direction.

"Stop this, Mizuki," Iruka begged, trying to keep all his weight on his one good leg. "Why are you doing all of this?"

Mizuki glared at him in annoyance. "For power, Iruka. More than the Hokage would ever allow me to possess. But if you wanted to die first so badly, all you had to do was say so!" Pulling out another kunai, he made to slash at his former partner's face, but was countered by Iruka's own kunai. Unfortunately, Iruka once again left himself wide open for another attack on his damaged knee, which Mizuki capitalized upon, and Iruka fell to the ground again, clutching his leg in agony.

Mizuki unhooked the second shuriken from his back and stood victoriously over his fallen comrade. "I've been hoping for a moment like this for a long time, Iruka. Goodbye."

----------

Darkness.

The sound of dripping water.

A musty feeling in the air.

He definitely wasn't in the forest anymore.

Opening his eyes, Naruto took in his strange new surroundings. If he wasn't mistaken, he appeared to be in a sewer of some kind. Did Konoha even have sewers? More importantly, what had become of Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei? The last thing he could remember was Mizuki saying he was going to ki...

"Am I...dead?" he asked. He sure hoped not, what sort of afterlife involved a sewer? But on the other hand, it did seem to represent the way his life had turned out, he supposed.

Unsure of what to do, he simply began walking through the dingy corridors, hoping that maybe they'd lead to some place a little less...stinky.

He didn't have to go far before he found himself standing before a gigantic rusty gate, which had a small paper seal attached it. He was about to turn and walk the other way when he suddenly felt an enormous amount of power coming from the other side of the gates. He took a step forward and immediately fell backward when a large animalistic face appeared before him.

**"Well, well, well,"** the creature growled. **"Twelve years together and you finally decide to visit."**

Naruto stared up in awe of the thing before him. "You...you're the...?"

**"So I guess the secret's out, huh?"** it replied in what must have been a mocking tone. **"You may refer to me as Kyubi-sama, or just Master if you prefer."**

Naruto hung his head. "Then it really was true." He could feel tears beginning to creep into his eyes, but fought them down and glared up at the demon fox. "It's all because of you that everyone in the village hates me!"

The Kyubi snorted, an action that almost blew Naruto off his feet. **"Now that's hardly fair, mortal. Really, do you think I enjoy being trapped inside the body of a loudmouth weakling like you? If you want to blame someone, then blame the guy who stuck me in here."**

That 'guy', Naruto knew, had been the Yondaime, the person Naruto had admired for the majority of his life and one of the driving forces behind Naruto deciding to become Hokage himself. But all of the admiration he felt was now being rivaled by the sheer amount of bitterness he was feeling upon learning the truth about himself. Why had the Yondaime picked him? Was it more convenient since he didn't have parents or something?

**"And just in case you're still curious,"** the fox interrupted his thoughts. ** "-we are still alive. And stop with all the self-pitying; it's pathetic, even for you. Besides, it's not like living with me inside you is without advantages."**

While the being alive part was comforting, Naruto was still growing angrier at the Kyubi. "Shut up, baka fox! What could you possibly do that could help me?"

The Kyubi grinned in a way that made him look even more sinister. **"Perhaps a demonstration is in order?"**

Naruto watched on as a wave of blood red chakra began pouring through the gates and quickly began to surround his body. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked in alarm.

**"Just think of it as a temporary loan, human. My way of...paying the rent, you might say. You'll thank me for it later."**

Naruto could slowly begin to feel himself returning to consciousness, the only thing left of the sewer was the demonic laughter of the Kyubi that faded away behind him.

----------

"What in the...?" Mizuki muttered.

He had been about to bring his shuriken down onto the body of Iruka, when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a red aura coming from the body of the fox brat. Iruka, through the searing pain in his leg, noticed it as well.

"Naruto?" he whispered.

Naruto silently climbed back to his feet, turning a deathly and feral gaze to Mizuki, accentuated by his now red eyes and more defined whisker marks. Even his canine teeth and fingernails had grown longer and sharper. Neither chunin moved as they watched the boy adopt an animal-like position on his hands and feet.

Mizuki finally shook off his surprise and began spinning his weapon again. "I don't know what you're up to brat, but you're still going to die now!" So saying, he sent the shuriken flying towards the boy.

What happened next was too quick for the traitor to follow. In the blink of an eye, Naruto had jumped over the shuriken and sprung himself from the tree trunk behind him toward Mizuki. The next thing Mizuki felt was an explosion of pain as Naruto raked him across the face with his claw-like fingernails. He barely had time to cover his face and scream in pain before Naruto rebounded back and drove his foot into the back of his head, sending him into a dark and blissfully painless slumber.

Iruka watched the entire exchange, all of which hadn't taken more than ten seconds, with a look of horror on his face. He didn't know how it was possible, but he knew for a fact that this was not the Naruto that he knew. The eyes, the whiskers, the red chakra, they all told him the same thing.

The Kyubi had taken control of its host. Iruka was now staring at the monster that was responsible for killing his parents.

After making certain that Mizuki was not getting back up, Naruto turned to check on Iruka, but froze when he saw him. Instantly, the red aura vanished and his body returned to its normal state. The look that Iruka was giving him was one of unmistakable anger and fear, just like he'd seen every day from almost everyone else he knew. But somehow, it hurt a hell of a lot more seeing it come from Iruka.

Without a second thought, Naruto turned and ran into the forest.

Iruka's eyes widened in shock. "Naruto, wait!" He tried to run after him, but was stopped by the pain in his knee. He cursed himself, knowing there was no way he could catch up to the boy now.

"This is all my fault," he whispered.

----------

It was well past midnight when Iruka had returned with the scroll and an unconscious Mizuki. After the entire ordeal was explained to the Hokage and the rest of the shinobi that were present, the Sandaime had issued for everyone to comb the area for Naruto. Now everyone was back in front of the ninja academy.

No one had seen anything of Naruto, save for a small trail that had led out of the village. When everyone had settled down, Sarutobi Asuma was the first to speak.

"What do we do about this, Hokage-sama? We have the scroll back and we now know that it was Mizuki who caused all of this, but in regards to the boy himself..."

A ninja standing directly behind Iruka grunted. "Why don't we just leave him go? It'd save the village a lot of trouble."

Without warning, Iruka turned and slugged the man in the face. He was quickly restrained by two others before he did further damage.

"You don't know anything about that boy!" he shouted. "You'd realize that if you ever bothered to look at HIM and not just the thing that's sealed inside him!"

"Please calm yourself, Iruka," the Hokage told him. "I know how you're feeling but fighting amongst ourselves won't help matters any."

"If I may, Hokage-sama?"

Everyone turned to the back where a silver-haired man with three-quarters of his face covered up was slowly approaching.

"You're late, Kakashi," the Hokage reprimanded.

Hatake Kakashi blinked with his one exposed eye. "Well you see, while out investigating, a single magpie flew by me so I had to go to a temple and purify myself."

Various mutterings of disbelief were heard from the crowd.

"Please get on with it, Kakashi," the Hokage urged impatiently.

"Yes, well...all we really have to worry about is finding the boy and explaining things to him. Since Uzumaki Naruto failed to pass his genin exams today, it's not possible for us to label him as a Missing Nin, because obviously, he's not a ninja yet. That means that once we find him and convince him to come back, there will be no need for any sort of punishment."

Iruka grinned widely in relief while the Hokage hid a smile of his own. Leave it to Kakashi to find a loop-hole like that.

"I want you all to get some rest," he announced. "We'll begin a broader search at sunrise."

As everyone began to disperse, Kakashi patted Iruka on the shoulder. "Beat up Mizuki all by himself, did he?" Seeing Iruka nod, he grinned, or at least it was probably a grin judging by the one eye. "No worries, alright?"

Iruka just nodded again before gazing up at the night sky.

_I'm really sorry, Naruto._

End Chapter 1

----------

Author's Notes: A single magpie is supposed to bring bad luck to the person who sees it, hence Kakashi's comment.

I'll go ahead and say now that the rest of the story won't be nearly as angsty as this prologue was. I tried to keep the OoCness to a minimum, but considering what I was trying to accomplish, a little bit of it was necessary in order to make things believable. Good or bad, let me know what you think, just so long as whatever you have to say is a little more in-depth than a simple 'UPDATE' or 'STOP WRITING'. I can't express how much I hate that.

Thank you, and good day.

LL


	2. Chapter 1

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfiction

Standard Disclaimer still applies.

----------

Chapter 1

"Did you hear? I heard my mom say that Uzumaki Naruto left the village last night."

"Yeah, me too. He must've been really upset about failing again."

"Nah, I heard he tried to make off with the Hokage's secret scroll."

"Heh, for all the good it would 'a done a loser like him."

"Yeah, it's not like he was that good a ninja or anything. Still, I don't know why my parents seemed so happy about it..."

"You three pay attention!"

The three whispering kids shuddered and sank into their chairs as everyone else in the room turned to look at their table. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei," they mumbled together.

Iruka shook his head and turned back to his clipboard. It was perfectly obvious what the children were talking about. It was the same thing that everyone in the entire village was talking about. The demon child was gone, and if the villagers didn't fear and respect the Hokage as much as they did, the day would have been declared a village holiday.

Iruka sighed in frustration, feeling his hands tighten on the clipboard that he held. It had been nearly four hours since the Hokage had sent a squad out to search for the missing boy. So far nothing had turned up, and Iruka was becoming more distracted with each passing minute. He'd been finding himself checking the doorway almost every five minutes hoping to see someone dragging the rambunctious boy into the classroom like so many times before.

He should have been out there looking for him with the others, but unfortunately with Mizuki now gone as well, he was the only one left to run the academy. Naruto's leaving had been his fault, after all. No matter how much the Hokage tried to reassure him otherwise, that it was a compilation of all the rejection and hatred over the past twelve years that had finally caught up with the boy, Iruka still knew that last night it had been him that had driven that final nail into the coffin.

_Naruto, you need to come back_, he pleaded silently.

"Iruka-sensei!" Iruka snapped out of his thoughts. He looked up to see one of the gossiping boys from before with his hand in the air. "Is it really true that Naruto left the village and you were the one who stopped him from stealing the Hokage's scroll?"

The room grew quiet, as the majority of the students who had heard bits and pieces of the incident from their parents perked up, hoping to hear the story from its source.

Iruka gave everyone in the room a stern look. "Although I have been specifically instructed by the Hokage himself to not discuss anything about this incident, I am going to tell you that even though Naruto has left the village, what you've probably heard about the circumstances behind it is most likely false. And until this incident has been properly settled, I'll tolerate no further questions about it. Understood?"

Everyone nodded. "Good. Now, I will begin dividing you all into your three-person teams, so listen closely for your names."

As Iruka began reading off names, several of the students became lost in their own thoughts.

Hyuga Hinata hung her head sadly. Having watched Naruto for a long time now, she knew very well the sort of person he really was. It was true that he was a prankster and a trouble-maker, but she saw the hidden agenda behind his actions. If there was any reason why Naruto had left, it certainly hadn't been because he'd tried to steal something.

Inuzuka Kiba felt a bit disappointed. He never would have considered Naruto and himself real friends, but they'd had some pretty good times making trouble for Iruka-sensei together. He'd miss having another troublemaker around.

The only thing that went through Haruno Sakura's mind was that she wouldn't be bothered by that annoying boy who wouldn't get a clue that she wasn't interested in him. At least she had one less person trying to keep her away from Sasuke-kun.

To anyone else, Uchiha Sasuke remained as stoic and as broody as ever, but if one were to look extremely close, they might notice a slight furrowing of the prodigy's brow and a small darkening of his eyes.

"Guess if he's really gone that makes you the new 'dobe', doesn't it Shikamaru?" Akimichi Choji teased between shoveling chips into his mouth. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and sighed in a bored manner.

"Team Seven," Iruka continued. "Uchiha Sasuke...Haruno Sakura-"

"YATTA!" Sakura cried victoriously while several other girls groaned in despair.

Iruka frowned at the sudden outbursts and continued. "And Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru and Choji both looked downcast at finding out they wouldn't be on the same team. When they turned to each other, both forced grins onto their faces.

"Lucky you," Choji said. "Being paired up with the prodigy should make things a lot easier for you."

Shikamaru sighed, noticing how Sakura was still giggling and staring starry-eyed at Sasuke. "I guarantee it ends up more trouble than it's worth."

"Hey bum," Yamanaka Ino muttered from the row in front of him. "You better keep that billboard-brow away from my Sasuke-kun. If I find out anything's going on with them, I'm holding you responsible, understand?"

Shikamaru just brushed her off before turning back to Choji. "Well, at least I wasn't on a team with her."

Choji laughed. "Yeah, I'll bet that wouldn't be much fun."

"And finally," Iruka's voice rang out again. "Team Ten will be Akimichi Choji...Yamanaka Ino-"

Choji's head fell to his desk. Shikamaru gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"-And Ishizu Taro."

Choji and Ino looked to the other side of the room, finding their new teammate sitting at the very edge of the room, idly picking his nose. Feeling their eyes on him, he turned and greeted them with a small wave. Neither of them looked very thrilled.

"You will all be assigned to your new jounin leaders tomorrow morning," Iruka informed them. "For now, you have the rest of the day to yourselves. Good luck to all of you."

----------

A few hours later in the afternoon, the Sandaime sat in his office, busying himself with his stack of paperwork when a knock at his door snapped him out of his actions.

"Enter," he called. The door opened, revealing Shiranui Genma and Namiashi Raido. "What do you have to report?" he asked them.

The two men saluted and Genma spoke first. "Well Hokage-sama, I'm afraid to say that we've all run into a...slight complication in regards to the Kyubi boy."

The Hokage kept his face neutral and cleared his throat to make sure his voice remained level before speaking. "What sort of...complications are we talking about? Did you find Naruto?"

The two jounin rubbed the back of their heads in discomfort. "Well here's the thing," Raido said cautiously. "The two of us and the others followed the boy's trail for a few miles, when the trail that he was leaving suddenly split off in different directions."

Sarutobi frowned. "Split off?" They nodded. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Well, most likely the boy figured out that the village would be sending people after him, and to throw us off, he created a few Kage Bunshins to create additional trails for us to follow, hoping it would give him additional time to get away," Raido explained.

"Impossible!"

Genma shrugged. "I admit it seems strange that a kid like him would be able to think up something as smart as that, but I don't see any-"

"That's not what I mean!" Sarutobi said a little louder than intended. "Just yesterday Naruto failed his genin exams because he wasn't able to create even one successful bunshin. I watched it myself. Now you're telling me that he's capable of creating _Kage_ Bunshins?"

"At least ten at once, actually," Genma informed him, shrugging again. "We tracked down a few of them but they all vanished the moment we approached them."

"The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is one of the techniques from the scroll that he took last night," Raido commented while rubbing his chin. "To learn a jounin level technique like that in the span of about an hour is unheard of. The fact that it was a boy who's not even a genin and was able to make so many of them at once should be, by all accounts, absolutely impossible."

"What exactly are you thinking here, Raido?" Sarutobi asked.

The jounin was silent for a few moments, trying to decide how best to approach the subject. "Well Hokage-sama, it's just...well, you remember what Iruka told us last night? How the boy seemed to change when he beat Mizuki? He said he had a red aura and was acting like an animal. Combine that with the fact that he's mastered a technique that should normally take the average ninja a minimum of three days to learn in just hours, and I have to wonder..."

"You're thinking that perhaps the Kyubi has somehow taken control of Naruto?" Sarutobi finished for him. Both jounin nodded, causing the old man to sigh. "I'm not ready to start jumping to such conclusions yet. Not until I've had a chance to see it for myself, at least." He let out another sigh and sat back down in his chair. He'd never felt so old before in his life. "Do you have any idea where Naruto might be headed?"

Genma distractedly played with the senbon needle in his mouth, pushing it from side to side with his tongue. "We checked six of the ten paths that the boy left, all of them coming up blank. The remaining four led east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. We have no borders to other countries to the east and south-east, so unless he took one of the western trails, he'll probably remain in the Fire Country."

"But if he did go west, he could be halfway to Suna to Iwa or anywhere in between by now," Raido pointed out.

Sarutobi couldn't help but look miserable, realizing just how easily this could have all been avoided. But there was no sense dwelling on the past. Instead, he'd have to work on making Naruto's life more pleasant from here on out. Of course, he still needed to be found or else there'd be nothing to do for him.

"I'd like you and the others to use the rest of the day to continue searching for him. Search as fast as you can, because if he leaves the boundaries of our country, there won't be much we can do. If nothing is found by midnight, you'll have to return, as the other jounins will have to be here in the morning to meet their new genin students."

The two men saluted again and disappeared, leaving the Hokage alone again with nothing but his thoughts and a stack of business papers.

"Naruto..."

Five days later, the search was officially called off. Uzumaki Naruto was nowhere to be found within the country of Fire.

----------

The sun beat down mercilessly over the wide and desolate sands of the Wind Country, a part of the world that was so hot and dry that even cacti had trouble growing. The strong winds blew almost constantly, whipping up frequent and blistering sandstorms all across the horizon.

And out in the middle of the barren wasteland, a single boy trudged onward.

"So...damn...hot..." Naruto croaked through cracked lips and a very dry throat. "So...damn...tired..."

The young blonde was currently moving at twice the speed of a large tortoise, sweating profusely and constantly having to tell himself that the ramen stand he kept seeing on the horizon was nothing but a mirage. He had unzipped his orange coat and pulled it over his head, offering himself the slightest bit of shade, but not doing anything in the way of escaping the heat. His green goggles were pulled over his eyes to protect them from the sand, but with the amount of sand being kicked around, he still couldn't see very far ahead of him.

He felt like such an idiot. It had been four and a half days since he'd fled from Konoha. Since then, he'd traveled aimlessly, not sleeping, not eating, not even paying attention to where he was going.

He never stopped to think about it, but now that he was stranded deep in the heart of this desert, he couldn't understand just how he had managed to travel so far and so fast without much of a problem. There was a couple times where he'd find himself almost blacking out of sorts, but when he came back around to himself he'd notice that he was still running, like he'd been on auto-pilot.

And while he ran, the Kyubi had watched in silence.

Since that night, the Kyubi hadn't spoken to him again, though it was sure that Naruto still had it on his mind. Several times the Kyubi could feel the boy reaching his limits, and would pump a little more of its own chakra into his body and allow him to keep going. It might have seemed odd to be constantly helping the boy like that, but if it got him further away from Konoha and the Hokage, he could spare it.

However, the Kyubi now had more important matters on its mind. They had first come across the massive ocean of sand around midnight, long before the sun had risen. It had been freezing then, but it was now mid afternoon, and the boy was beginning to show signs of heatstroke, which was very worrisome for the fox. There weren't many things that he couldn't protect his host from. Poison he could neutralize, viruses and diseases were a little more difficult, but it was still no problem getting rid of them either.

Unfortunately, there was nothing the demon fox could do in regards to regulating his host's body temperature, and that meant that if Naruto didn't find some shelter from the heat really quick, there would be sever problems.

**"Boy,"** he said, hoping to get his attention. There was no answer. **"Hey, mortal!"** he shouted a little louder.

"Shut...up...fox," Naruto panted. "I'm not...speaking to you."

**"Don't be so stubborn, human. You need to get us out of this desert, or at least find some shade or something."**

Naruto growled. "And just...where would you like...me to...go, baka fox?" He weakly swept his arms around to gesture towards the surroundings. "There's...nothing but...sand...as far as...I can see."

**"Well that's your fault for not paying attention to where you were running then, isn't it?"** the fox snarled. **"Look, if you don't get out of this sun real fast we're both going to die!"**

"Yeah? ...S...so what?" Naruto demanded. "It's not like...anybody is...gonna miss either of us."

**"That may be well and good for you, brat, but I'm not going to die here!"**

"Just...shut up...I'm...tired of..." Naruto's vision began to blur.

**"Hey? HEY! Don't you dare pass out!"**

"Not...gonna...pass...out," Naruto whispered half a second before falling face first into the scorching hot sand.

And the Kyubi was left uttering several loud obscenities.

End Chapter 1

----------

Author's Notes: Well the main point of this chapter was to get all of the details with Konoha taken care of. The next several chapters can now be focused almost entirely on Naruto and the Suna siblings. I'll try to get the next part out soon, but I'm heading back to college at the end of the week, so I won't guarantee anything.

Shikamaru was put with Sasuke and Sakura because, like Choji said, with Naruto gone, Shikamaru is the new 'dead last' and therefore Naruto's replacement. Also, the OC Ishizu Taro is nothing more than a filler for the now empty space that Naruto left. He'll have little, if any, real impact on the story, so don't worry about that.

LL


	3. Chapter 2

The Pride of Suna  
By Legendary Legacy  
A Naruto Fanfic

----------

Chapter 2

_Huuh, another boring mission. I stand off to the side and watch with the others while my little brother kills eighteen armed A-Rank ninja without even trying. And to think, three years ago I thought being a ninja would be a little more...fun._

These thoughts belonged to a young teenage girl who was currently walking through the desert with three males, two of which were young, about her age, and another who was several years older. The girl wore a tight-fitting purple outfit with a skirt that ended slightly above her knees. Her blond hair was pulled back into four short ponytails, and she was currently shielding herself from the rays of the sun with a giant fan held over her head.

Off to her left was a boy dressed completely in black, looking completely unfazed by the blazing sun that was beating down on him. His face was covered in purple markings and he carried a large, bulging object wrapped in bandages on his back.

In between them was a shorter boy with red hair and thick dark marks around his aquamarine colored eyes. He was also carrying a large object on his back. In his case, it was a large sand colored gourd. Although none of the travelers were looking particularly happy at the moment, this one seemed to give off an aura of hatred that made his companions want to not walk too close to him.

Behind them walked the older man, who had two red lines along his right cheek and a white cloth pulled down over the left side of his face.

"We're only a few miles from Suna," the man informed them. "Once we report to Kazekage-sama, I'd like the three of you to proceed to the training grounds. I'll meet with you there later to discuss our next mission."

The girl and boy in black both nodded, while the redhead walked on like he hadn't heard a word the man had said.

The girl silently went back to musing. It was great that they were receiving so many missions recently, but it was honestly getting more and more difficult to get excited about them anymore. She glanced over at her little brother. Ever since Gaara had become the official third member to their team, it had felt like she'd barely been needed at all. She could have gathered information from enemies, but quite frankly, both Gaara, with his Third Eye ability, and Kankuro, with his hidden and disguised puppets, were better at that than she.

And planning? Oh sure, she was best qualified and would love to do it, but with Gaara on the team, who needed plans? All the boy had to do was find the target and they would all be dead, or tortured for information and then dead, without the slightest of efforts. 

She knew that Kankuro felt the same way about the lackluster parts that they played on missions. If it wasn't for the fact that they both needed to come along to calm Gaara from one of his...'mood swings', their younger brother could have done every single one of their missions to date by himself.

It was infuriating and depressing, not to mention quite damaging to the kunoichi's ego, to witness her youngest brother showing her up again and again.

The redhead, Gaara, seemed to feel his sister's eyes on him and turned to her. "What do you want?" he said in what had to be called a growl.

Temari felt that all-to-familiar chill run down her spine at the way her brother glared at her. "N-nothing, just spacing out, I guess." She smiled reassuringly, hoping that he would buy it. At this stage in her life, she was pretty certain that her brother _couldn't_ read minds, but one could never be too certain around him.

Gaara just snorted and turned away, making Temari breathe a little easier. She really did love her brother; unfortunately he also scared the ever living shit out of her, which made for a lot of possible counseling issues that she might have to look into one day.

They all walked in silence for a few more minutes before Kankuro stopped abruptly.

"Hey, Baki-sensei?" he said, catching the other's attention.

Baki had already stopped as soon as Kankuro had, having almost walked right into him. "What is it?"

Kankuro pointed off into the distance. "That orange thing over there, it's not a mirage or something is it?" 

The others followed the direction that he was pointed, and through the swirling sand, all could make out the figure of what appeared to be a person lying face down in the sand.

"Should we go check, Baki-sensei?" Temari asked.

"Why bother?" Gaara questioned, sounding annoyed. "It's probably just a corpse."

Baki grimaced. "It wouldn't do to just leave someone there if they're still alive. Temari, Kankuro, investigate," he commanded. The siblings nodded and took off. Gaara stared after them before walking off again.

"I'm not waiting for you then," he announced. Baki just watched his youngest student walk away before moving to catch up with the others.

Upon reaching the fallen person, Temari knelt down and pulled off the orange jacket from over its head, revealing a young boy with untamed blonde hair, wearing a pair of green goggles over his eyes. She gently reached down and turned him to his back, being wary as his skin was already bright red, telling her that he had been there for at least an hour.

"What's the verdict?" she heard her brother ask.

The kunoichi placed two fingers to the boy's neck, feeling a faint but steady pulse.

"He's still alive," she confirmed. "But he'd most likely suffering from sunstroke. We need to get him to a hospital if he's going to live."

Lifting his head up and cradling it with her arm, Temari slowly pulled off the goggles from his eyes. The areas around his eyes were incredibly pale compared to the rest of his face, and there appeared to be several strange markings along the boy's cheeks, which she assumed were some sort of birthmark or something.

Then the boy's eyes opened, and Temari got a good look at just how deep and blue they were. The boy had nice eyes, she decided.

"I see...an angel," he whispered faintly, a small goofy grin appearing on his face.

Temari felt herself blush, then growled when Kankuro started laughing. 

"Yeah, it's sunstroke alright. He's already delusional." Temari elbowed him in the stomach, making him crumple over in pain.

"Enough fooling around, you two," Baki commanded. "If the boy is still alive, then we need to get him back to the village. Any idea where he's from?" 

Temari shrugged. "He's not wearing a shinobi headband." She shook the boy slightly, trying to get him to focus on her again. "Hey kid, can you tell me where you're from?"

The boy seemed confused by the question, but then his eyes widened in fear and the next thing Temari knew he was out of her arms and crouching down in an animalistic manner several feet away from her and the others. The three Suna shinobi tensed in surprise.

"C-can't go back," he slurred, baring his teeth at them. "W-won't...let..." And then he collapsed again. The group didn't move for a few seconds, waiting to see if anything else would happen before Baki relaxed. He calmly walked over and scooped the boy up into his arms.

"Let's go," he said. The others nodded and followed shortly behind, the village of Sunagakure already coming into view over the sand dunes on the horizon.  
----------

The next several hours went by in a blur for Uzumaki Naruto. He only managed to catch snippets of what was going on in that time as his body continued to lose battles against unconsciousness. For a while he could feel himself being carried by someone, though he couldn't bring his eyes to focus enough to make out who it was. Later, he found himself in a small room with several people in white standing around him. A couple of times he'd try to ask what was happening and where he was, but no one seemed to know what he was saying. Still lost in confusion, he'd tried once to get up and run. He would have succeeded, but the moment he sat up a burst of pain flew through his entire body, causing him to black out again.

At times when he was awake his body felt like it was on fire, but then there would be a cooling sensation, and the feeling that he had been submerged in water. After several processes of pain and soothing, the people in white began wrapping him in some kind of cloth. They placed him on something cushy, most likely a bed, and after one last sudden jab of pain in his arm, he was out again.

----------

"Heatstroke, second-degree burns over half of his body, first-degree over the rest, disorientation and multiple bouts of unconsciousness brought on by lack of sleep, food and water...quite frankly, Baki-san, I can't see how the boy is even alive, much less in such stable condition."

Baki nodded, stroking his chin in thought. "Any clues as to where he might be from?"

The young nurse shook her head. "Nothing, sir. Although..."

"Although?" he prodded.

The woman glanced around the room as though she were afraid to continue, then spoke in a lowered voice. "While cooling the boy's body, we discovered unusual markings on his stomach. It's not like anything that any one of us had ever seen, so there's no telling what it really is."

The jounin frowned. "I see. By any chance, is he alert enough to answer a few questions?"

"We gave him a light pain killer a few hours ago and he's been sleeping since," she informed him. "I can take you to his room, if you want?"

As they were leaving the front desk of the hospital, the front doors swung open and Temari and Kankuro walked in.

"I still don't see what the big deal is," Kankuro muttered grumpily.

Temari turned to him with a scowl. "Are you saying you're not even the least bit curious? We found a half-dead person out alone in the desert and you're not interested one bit about him?"

"Should I be?" he asked honestly. "It's not like I know him or anything."

"Then go home," Temari said flatly.

"And be alone with Gaara when he's in one of his 'moods'? Are you insane?"

"Then quit bitching and come on!"

The two siblings followed their instructor and the nurse up to the third floor and entered one of the rooms. They found out very quickly that the boy was indeed very much alert.

"Hey you bastards! What the hell's going on here, huh?!" the boy shouted. He would have most likely been thrashing his bandaged arms and legs about in anger if they weren't strapped down to the sides of his bed. "If you're trying to get me to talk you're wasting your time! I won't say a thing no matter how much more you torture me. So there!" He ended his tirade by blowing them a raspberry.

There was a group blink among the four people in the doorway.

"I hate him already," Kankuro stated.

The nurse calmly walked over to the bedside and opened the top drawer of a cabinet sitting next to it. When she pulled out a small scalpel, the boy literally freaked.

"AHH! I was just kidding! Don't torture me! I don't know anything, really! Please have mercy, I'm fragile!"

Temari was beginning to share her brother's opinion of the boy. He might have been amusing to her if he wasn't being so damn loud.

"Please relax boy," the nurse told him. "I'm only here to change your bandages. And please keep your voice down, there are other patients in this hospital, you know?"

The blonde looked ready to start shouting again when her words seemed to catch up with him. "...Hospital?"

"That's right."

"...Then...you're not here to torture me?"

"No, sir," she assured him.

"Can I do it?" Kankuro asked before receiving a small kick to the shin from Temari.

Baki ignored the trade-off between the two siblings and moved to sit on a chair on the opposite side of the bed.

"Now then, boy," he started, drawing the boy's attention from the nurse as she started cutting through the cloth wraps on his arm. "If you don't mind, there are a few questions that we need answered."

The boy scrunched his face up in suspicion. "Why should I have to tell you anything? I don't even know you, and I don't know where I am or anything. Why should I trust you?"

Baki took a deep breath, reminding himself that the boy did have a fairly good reason for being a little uptight. "Very well, I suppose I can answer a few of your questions first, then."

Temari and Kankuro moved forward, now a little more eager for some answers than before, while the boy looked on intently as the nurse continued stripping his bandages.

"You may call me Baki. These two," he gestured to the siblings. "-Are a part of my genin team, Kankuro and Temari. You are currently in a hospital in Sunagakure. My team and I found you unconscious in the desert several hours ago. You were suffering from a sever heatstroke, so we brought you here for treatment. Now until you answer a few of our questions, I'm afraid that's all I'm able to tell you. So..."

The boy turned his eyes to the floor, remaining silent before letting out a tired sigh. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm from...was from Konoha."

"Are you a shinobi?" Baki asked.

"Well...not really. I mean, I want to be one, but I kept having bad luck with passing the genin exams."

Baki thought about that. He wasn't a ninja, but if he had training experience already...

"I've got a question," Kankuro spoke up. "What kind of idiot wanders around in a desert in the middle of the day? Especially while wearing those thick and very ugly clothes?"

Naruto pointed and glared menacingly with his free hand. "Shut up! At least I don't wear makeup!"

Temari stifled a chuckle as she grabbed the back of her brother's shirt, keeping him from throttling the boy.

"This is ritual face-paint, you loudmouthed midget!"

"Who are you calling a midget?!" Naruto shouted, trying his best to stand up despite his restraints. "And I still say it looks like makeup!"

"I'll have you know that there are very important meanings behind wearing this paint!"

"AHEM!"

The two boys turned back to Baki, who was looking more than a little annoyed.

"Sorry, sensei," Kankuro mumbled while Naruto settled for grinning and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Now Uzumaki Naruto," the jounin continued. "I believe that once you're sufficiently healed, you'll be able to return to Konoha-"

"NO!"

Everyone cringed at the force of Naruto's outburst. He lowered his head, staring down at the white sheets of his bed.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "It's just that...I can't go back. Ever."

Temari and the rest of her team, and even the nurse could sense the pain and sadness resonating from the blonde.

"You were exiled?" she asked cautiously.

His expression darkened even more. "I...I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

Temari nodded in understanding, though inside she was growing even more curious about the boy before her. Something about him just seemed to...draw her interest, in a way. It was almost like there was something familiar about him, but she couldn't figure what it might have been.

Baki cleared his throat again. "In that case Naruto, you can take up refuge here in Suna for the time being. However, Suna and Konoha are joined through a mutual treaty, and if anyone were to come looking for you from Konoha, just know that there wouldn't be anything we could do for you, as it could violate the treaty."

Naruto looked up at the man in astonishment.

"And since you're still a ninja-in-training, perhaps we can work things out with the Kazekage to let you take our genin tests once you recover. We've been running a little low-"

Before he could finish, Naruto had flung himself out of the bed, completely ruining the straps that held him and terrifying the nurse who was trying to reapply his bandages, and clamped his arms tightly around the waist of the jounin.

"DO YOU MEAN IT?" he asked, tears threatening to spout from his eyes. "I CAN STILL BECOME A NINJA?"

"Yes," Baki said as calmly as he possibly could. "But only if you let go of me right this second."

Naruto instantly began bouncing all around the room, swinging his arms, kicking his feet, knocking random things over without a care, and singing 'Gonna be a ninja! Gonna be a ninja!' at the top of his lungs.

"Uzumaki-san, stop that immediately!" the nurse commanded, which Naruto didn't even hear. She frantically turned to Temari and Kankuro. "Please stop him, he's not in any condition to be up! And the other patients, and..."

"Oh, let me, let me!" Kankuro begged, waving his hand in the air like a student wanting to be called on by the teacher.

Temari sighed and reached for her fan. "Don't waste your energy. I'll do it."

'But-!" the puppet master tried to protest.

"Who's the big sister around here?" she asked.

Kankuro crossed his arms and pouted. "You are," he mumbled.

Naruto was too preoccupied with celebrating that he never felt the approaching danger until it hit him right on top of the head, sending him crashing to the floor. Before he could regain his equilibrium, he felt himself pulled back to his feet by his hair and looking into the teal eyes of Temari.

"What'd you do that for?" he whined, rubbing the small bump forming on his head.

"Because, you idiot," the kunoichi answered forcefully. "You nearly died of sunstroke not even six hours ago. If you keep acting up like this you could still die, you know?"

"But I'm excited..."

"And I'm glad for you, but wait and be excited after you're healed, and get back into bed and rest now."

"But-"

"BED!" she ordered, jabbing a finger in the direction of the object in question.

Much like a puppy who had just been scolded by its master, Naruto sulked back to the bed and pulled the covers up past his nose. _Man, she's scarier than Sakura-chan._

----------

"Man, what a pain!" Kankuro growled. The three had left the hospital once everything had settled down again. Baki had gone his own way once they were out of the building, which left Temari alone to listen to her brother complain. "We should have just listened to Gaara in the first place."

"Oh, be nice," she reprimanded him. "Sure, he's loud, but I think you're overreacting a little."

Kankuro glanced at her from the corner of his eye and sneered. "Well of course _you_ would think that, 'Angel'."

Temari couldn't keep herself from blushing. "Shut up! He said that while he was half-dead and he probably doesn't even know he said it. It's not like it matters."

"Then how do you explain the blush?"

"I'M NOT BLUSHING!" she shouted, unconsciously growing even redder.

"Whatever," the puppet master chuckled, leaving Temari silently fuming.

They walked on for a few more blocks, both praying to themselves that Gaara wouldn't be in a bad mood over being alone at home for so long.

"By the way, Kankuro?"

"What, Temari?"

"What exactly is the special meaning behind that paint of yours?"

"...Shut up, Temari."

End chapter 2

LL


	4. Chapter 3

Well first and foremost, I need to apologize to everyone. I know I promised last chapter that this would be the chapter where Naruto finally met Gaara, but due to some unfortunate and unforeseen problems, I've had to cut this chapter a little short. I discovered that I somehow ended up with a major virus on my computer just a little while ago, and I can't get rid of it with my programs. So I have to send it into a shop. This is going to cut back on my typing time, but I decided that I'd go ahead and post what I have so far, since I don't know how long I'll be without my computer.

But enough about me, let's talk about YOU! You all are awesome! Over 100 reviews for only three chapters and not a single one of them bad. I also want to thank anyone who pointed out my misuse of the word 'oniichan' and 'ototo' for Kankuro. And I'll also thank the many people who kept PMing me asking me if I was still working on it. Sometimes it's a bit annoying, but at least I know you all care. So thank all you wonderful readers for all of that.

Speaking of annoying, I just want to repeat once again how much I hate recieving reviews that only say UPDATE, (you know who you are). I'm glad you like the story, but if you don't have anything more to say than that one word, it would be simpler if you didn't even give a review, alrighty?

Now then...On to the chapter itself, shall we?

----------

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfic

----------

Chapter 3

"What exactly are you asking of me, Baki?"

The large man kept his head bowed, and took a deep breath. "This boy that was found yesterday, I would like to test his abilities as a shinobi. Should he pass my expectations, I humbly ask you to make him a ninja of Suna under my command, Kazekage-sama."

It was next to impossible to judge the Kazekage's expression since all but his eyes were completely covered, but Baki could tell just by the narrowing of those eyes that the man was suspicious. "...And what makes this particular boy so special that I should allow such a thing? This boy is an outsider, someone we know nothing about. Who's to say that he's not a spy?"

Baki thought back to his earlier meeting with the rowdy child in the hospital and couldn't help but smirk. No village in their right mind would send someone like him on an espionage mission.

"It is uncertain as of now sir, but it seems as thought the boy left his village in a great hurry. My team and I found him passed out in the middle of the desert with no additional food, clothing, or provisions of any sort. It is our belief that the boy may have been exiled. However, there could be another possibility..."

An unseen eyebrow was quirked by the Kazekage. "And that would be...?"

"I trust you know the tale of the monster Kyubi no Yoko?" Baki asked.

The unexpected question caught the Yondaime off guard, but he recovered and nodded. "It was a demon fox of near-immeasurable power whom the Yondaime of Konoha sacrificed himself to seal away within the body of an infant twelve years ago. What relevance does that carry here?"

When Baki didn't respond, the Kazekage's eyes narrowed even further. "You can't be thinking that _he_ is that child?" he demanded.

"Again, I can't be certain yet, Kazekage-sama," Baki admitted. "But while at the hospital, an attendant informed me that they discovered markings on the boy's stomach which were unnatural looking. I haven't had the opportunity to see it myself yet, but there is still the possibility that those markings are the seal that binds the Kyubi."

The Yondaime seemed taken aback by this declaration.

"What I saw today, sir," Baki continued in a lowered voice. "-In the desert...I'm positive of it. The boy was on the brink of unconsciousness, but for just the briefest of moments, he seemed to change, and I felt an evil force, a bloodlust the likes of which I've only felt in the past from Gaara."

The eyes of the Kazekage suddenly hardened. "You want to unleash another monster like Gaara on our village? Are you a fool!"

Baki shook his head. "No sir, please don't misunderstand. This boy seems to be stable, much more controlled than Gaara. I believe that with proper guidance and training, the boy can become a great asset to the land of Suna. It could be possible that he will surpass the abilities of Gaara, himself."

A feeling of foreboding sent a small chill through the Yondaime's body. The thought of another demon weighed heavily on his chest, but if they were able to succeed with this Uzumaki boy where they had failed with Gaara tugged his thoughts in the other direction.

Baki waited on pins and needles for the Kazekage to speak again. Finally, after a long and drawn out silence...

"Test him. If he is deemed worthy, then I shall leave him to you. But heed my word now, Baki: If something goes wrong, I shall personally end your life."

The jounin bowed his head again before vanishing.

----------

It was mid-morning and already Temari was bored.

It seemed to be the case more often than not these days. She could usually keep herself busy with missions and training, but when there was a lack of the former and the rest of the team wasn't around for the latter, she would often find herself at a loss for what to do.

Temari needed a new hobby, of that she was certain. Botany was fine, but could only hold her interest for so long. Kankuro, on the other hand, could spend hours every day tinkering with his puppets or going out and browsing for new parts and adapters that suited him. Gaara had his...activities as well, though it also seemed that he could be completely content with doing nothing but sit on the roof all day and night.

She knew for a long time now that she wasn't like most girls in the village. Where village girls and other kunoichi could be found all the time at the local clothing and beauty shops, Temari never really felt the need. Not to boast, but she looked just fine no matter what she wore, with or without makeup, if the occasional glances from passing boys were any indication.

Of course none of that really mattered anyway, since it had been years since she'd had any real sort of interaction with any boys her age. Even if there were some who were man enough to overlook the fact that she was Gaara's sister, all of the male shinobi that were around her age were pathetically weak, and the one thing that Temari looked for in a prospective boyfriend was that he be able to keep up with her, either physically or mentally.

But thinking like this did nothing but depress her. Sighing, she stood up from her bed and walked out of the room. She found the stairway that led up to the roof of their home. Opening the door, she was unsurprised to find Gaara sitting on the ledge of the roof, looking out over the village at nothing in particular.

"Gaara?" she called as she moved to stand next to him. The redhead turned stiffly and leveled a flat stare at her.

"What do you want?" he asked bluntly.

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm going out for a while, so you'll have the house to yourself until me or Kankuro get back," she told him casually as she crouched down a few feet away from him.

The empty stare didn't waver. "Fine."

Temari mentally drooped. She had been trying since she was eight years old to get Gaara to come out of his shell and open up to her a little more, thinking that maybe if he did that he might gain a little bit of stability to his life. Years later, however, it seemed that such a thing was a lost cause. She decided to try again, anyway.

"Have you eaten yet?" she asked. "I can bring something back for you."

Gaara turned back to gazing out at nothing. "...Nothing sweet."

Temari smiled. "Sure thing." She stood back up and, on an afterthought, reached over and ruffled the boy's hair a little. Unfortunately, the unexpected contact caused him to flinch and a thin veil of sand began appearing around his body. Temari immediately pulled her hand back as though it had almost been bitten by a cobra.

Her friendly, big-sister mask slipped and was replaced by one of sadness mixed with fear. "Sorry," she whispered. "I'll just...I'll be back later, okay?" Then, not waiting for a response, she jumped from the roof and didn't look back until she was more than a block away. Gaara was still not looking at her.

For a while, Temari simply wandered the streets of the village with no set destination in mind. She eventually reached an area of town that served chilled soba, which was quite a hit with the inhabitants of the desert town. Stopping at the stand, she ordered and ate of bowl, then ordered a special bowl for Gaara. It cost her most of the pocket money she'd brought, but Gaara, unfortunately, had some expensive tastes. Better safe than sorry, she always said.

As she walked back to the house, she walked by the hospital and happened to remember the boy from yesterday; Uzumaki Naruto, if she remembered correctly. She stared down at the small wrapped box in her hand, then up at the building in front of her, then back down again.

"Ah, what the heck?" she decided. "Ten minutes shouldn't hurt. ...I just hope Gaara isn't starving."

----------

A door cracked open, and an eyeball could be seen peeking through the opening. It looked left, then right, then up and down, before finally determining that there were no ambushes waiting on the other side. Slowly, the door creaked open further and a heavily bandaged boy slunk into the hallway. He hadn't taken two steps when he heard someone coming. In a flash, he was crouched down underneath a metal gurney with a long white sheet pulled down to conceal him from the approaching person.

It had seemed like a wise move, until he realized that the person was now starting to push the gurney down the hallway, forcing him to crawl on hands and knees along with it so as not to be exposed. Moving in such a way was no easy feat while so heavily wrapped to begin with, but with the repeated zigging and zagging through various hallways that the gurney was going in, he had to believe that the person either had no idea where he was going, or already knew that he was under there and was punishing him for leaving his room.

When it finally stopped and the man began walking away, he cautiously raised the sheet and glanced out. Everything seemed to be clear again, now all he had to do was figure out where in the building he was and find the exit before anyone noticed that his room was empty.

Uzumaki Naruto grinned at his small measure of victory. And people said he couldn't cut it as a ninja. Ha! Well screw them! Here he was, trapped and isolated deep within enemy lines, and already he was practically home free! No one would be able to stop him now!

"Going somewhere?"

He froze. That voice seemed familiar for some reason. Very slowly, he turned around.

"Oh crap," he said before he could stop himself. It was that scary girl from the night before, standing directly in front of him, arms crossed, foot tapping, and a not-so-friendly sort of glint in her eye.

Not good.

"Well?" the girl in question prompted.

Naruto swallowed hard. "Um...bathroom?"

The girl quirked an eyebrow in skepticism, which sent a shiver through Naruto's body. It was insane, he hadn't known the girl for more than an hour total and already she scared him more than any girl he'd ever known back home. Granted, aside from Sakura, he really hadn't known any of the other girls all that well anyway...

"You wouldn't be planning on leaving the hospital before you're completely healed, would you?" she asked in a voice that was way too casual-sounding to be sincere.

"But I am healed," he insisted, flexing his arms as if to prove it. "I'm feeling fine; I'm a really fast healer!"

"Not that fast, you're not," she replied. "You were ten feet from Death's door when we found you yesterday, and let me tell you something, kid..." She reached over and placed her hand firmly on his shoulder. "I'm not always known for doing favors for people. So when I actually go out of my way to help somebody, that somebody better damn well appreciate what I've done for them and NOT do something stupid that might make me regret helping them in the first place. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded adamantly. "A-absolutely, um...Temari, was it?" The girl looked slightly surprised that he'd remembered her name, but nodded nonetheless. "I really, really appreciate you helping me and everything, but I swear I'm all better now! And I have to go train more so I can still become a genin, because if I don't, then-"

"Naruto," Temari interrupted calmly. "Do you see this large fan on my back?"

Naruto blinked at the odd question. He examined the long black fan carefully. "What about it?"

"How much do you suppose it weighs?"

"...Uh...fifty pounds?" he guessed.

"Fifty-five actually, but close enough," she said. "Now then, do you have any idea what I might possibly use this big, heavy fan for?"

Naruto was beginning to sweat, which had nothing to do with the fact that the hospital wasn't air-conditioned. "Er...K-keeping yourself cool?"

"Actually," Temari said, pulling out a much smaller paper fan from her pocket. "That's what I use _this_ fan for. And if you don't get back in that room and stay there until the doctors tell you otherwise, I'm going to use _this_ fan to make sure you stay there even longer. Alright?"

With no other alternative than to surrender, Naruto grudgingly was led back to his room by the fellow blonde. Once he was back in his bed, she set Gaara's box of noodles on the table next to the bed and took a seat beside it.

"Good boy," she said, patting him softly on the head. She got a small chuckle out of the sour look he gave her in return.

"I'm not a dog, you know," he grumbled. "And what are you doing back here anyway?"

Temari sniffed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and legs. "I was in the area and thought I'd see how you were, okay? It's not like you'll end up with any real visitors out here in Suna, right?"

Naruto grimaced and turned his head away, making Temari feel that she must have struck a sore spot for the boy. She didn't say anything, however, and the moment passed in an awkward silence.

"So then...tell me about yourself."

Naruto turned back to face her, disbelief written all over his face. "Nani?"

"Tell me about yourself," she repeated.

His shock grew. "You...want to know about...me?"

"Why not?" she questioned. "Considering the circumstances of how we met can you blame me for being a little interested in you?"

Of course, Temari was already beginning to get a fairly decent picture of the boy. Just by his reactions to things that she or Baki-sensei had said to him led her to believe that he was either some sort of outcast or just someone whom nobody wanted to associate with. Now she just wanted to know why.

"T-there's really not that much to tell," he said softly.

"Not much to tell, or not much that you _want_ to tell?" she probed.

Naruto felt his hands tighten on the sheets of his bed. This wasn't something he wanted to deal with. Talking like this was forcing him to remember, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He just wanted to forget about Konoha, forget about Iruka-sensei and the old man and Sakura-chan and that jerk Sasuke and everyone else. He just wanted to be able to forget the past and move on with his life, but he'd never be able to do that if he had to keep reliving those painful memories every time he met someone new who wanted to know about his life.

"Can we please just talk about something else?" he asked, trying to make it sound like he wasn't pleading.

Temari studied his face for several seconds, then sighed. "Alright, fine. But I do want to know just one thing first."

Naruto tensed. "What's that?"

The girl stared him directly in the eyes. "Were you actually exiled for some reason, or did you just decide to leave? I don't really care about the reasons behind it, but if you're some sort of criminal or something, then I might have something to say about that. So?"

The blonde boy could feel his knuckles aching from clenching the sheets so tightly. "I...I wasn't exiled. I just...couldn't stay there anymore."

And that's when Temari figured out where she'd been reminded of this boy before.

"It must have been hard for you, being all alone in a place where no one cares about you?"

Naruto seemed to nod before he realized what she'd just said. Then his eyes widened in shock. "Wh-wha? I mean, how'd-"

She gave him a melancholy smile. "I've seen that expression on your face more times in my life than I can count. If there's one thing I'm an expert at, it's spotting the symptoms of someone who's gone through life unloved. You've got all the signs and then some."

Naruto was completely flabbergasted. "You mean, you...?"

Temari waved him off with a flick of her wrist. "It's not me, if that's what you're thinking. But enough about that, you answered my question so we can change the subject now, right?"

Naruto was actually finding himself no longer wanting to change the subject, but while he could admit to being a little dense sometimes, he wasn't so thick that he couldn't tell that Temari no longer wanted to discuss the issue, so he let it go for now.

Stretching his face into his signature fox-faced grin, he said, "So that brother of yours, does he buy his own make-up or just use yours?"

So caught off guard was Temari that she nearly fell off her chair. For as long as she could remember, no one in Suna ever commented on Kankuro's face paint, most likely because they were smart and feared what might befall them if they did.

Still, she couldn't help but laugh. "You're something else, kid; though with that kind of talk you probably won't last long out here in Suna."

Naruto flung his sheets back and stood up boldly on his bed. "That's what you think! I'll be the greatest ninja that Suna has ever seen! Just you wait and see!"

Temari raised her eyebrows and snorted at the declaration. "Cocky, are we? Suna's not known for its pushovers, you know?"

Naruto threw his fist into the air. "So what? Bring 'em on! I swore that I'd one day become the greatest Hokage ever and earn the admiration of everyone in the village! And I never break my vow, that's my nindo!"

"But you're not in Konoha anymore," Temari said bluntly.

Naruto instantly deflated, but the kunoichi didn't even have time to think about apologizing before he was standing straight up with his arm outstretched once again. "Then I'll just have to _alter_ my vow, and become the greatest _Kazekage_ in all of history, instead!"

Stars were beginning to fill his eyes at this point. "And then I can go back to Konoha and tell those villagers 'Ha ha! I bet you wish you hadn't been such big assholes to me now, huh?' and then they'll all say 'Oh Naruto, how could we have been so foolish? Please forgive our stupidity and be our new Hokage!' and then I'll become the first ever Kaze-Hokage!" He closed his eyes and stroked his chin thoughtfully, nodding in agreement with his own wisdom. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm gonna do!"

Temari could do nothing more than stare. Had she really just compared this guy to Gaara? She must have been out of her mind.

Naruto plopped back down on his bed, grinning like a child who'd found his Christmas presents before they'd even been wrapped. "So what's your goal, Temari-neechan?"

Temari again found herself caught completely off-guard. Whether it was from the question itself or the way he'd referred to her, she wasn't sure, but she made a mental note to stop letting her guard down while around him.

"Well, now that you mention it," she said slowly. "I guess I haven't thought much about anything long term." And she really hadn't. Besides making sure she gained jounin or possibly ANBU status before either of her brothers, she didn't have many other goals. Faced with this new conundrum, she placed her hand on her chin and gazed at the floor in thought.

Naruto sat patiently, waiting to hear what she had to say, when he suddenly took notice of the smell of food in the room. It was a familiar sort of smell coming from the small box that Temari had brought.

Had she brought that for him? If so it would have been a small blessing, as he'd barely been able to stomach the food that the nurses had brought for him earlier. And if he was right about the smell... Oh please, let him be right!

Temari growled in frustration. For the first time in her life she'd realized that she had no idea what she intended to do with her life outside of being a ninja. Damn, now this was depressing.

"Eww," she heard. "This ramen is all cold and weird looking! Gross!"

She frowned. "That's not ramen, baka. It's so-oh my GOD YOU'RE EATING GAARA'S LUNCH!" she screamed in wide-eyed horror.

Naruto, with bowl and chopsticks in hand, and a single noodle hanging limply from his lips, blinked. "Nani?"

End Chapter 3

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A/N: Well personally, I'm not very satisfied with this chapter, but like I said, this one was supposed to be much longer, so I apologize if it seems like a letdown. I'm not sure when I'll get my computer back, but with any luck, look for the next update in about a week or ten days (I hope).

I took a wild guess at the weight of Temari's fan. In actuality, it's probably heavier, but I can't say for certain.

Naruto called Temari -neechan because he seems to do that with almost every girl he knows that's older than him (The ramen girl Ayame, Shizune, that fish-girl from the anime who's name I forget, etc.) so it's probably not a big stretch to think that he'd call Temari that as well.

An extra-special thanks to **LD 1449** and **Because I Can** for inspiring new plot twists for me, and thanks again for everyone else who's reviewed or added me as a favorite. I appreciate it all!

**And as a bonus: To prove that next chapter WILL involve Naruto and Gaara, here's a teaser of Chapter 4. Enjoy!**

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The two boys stared at one another in silence, one with a piercing glare, the other with an apologetic grin.

"Sorry about that," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I wasn't really looking where I was going, and I didn't see you there, so uh...My bad, okay?"

The redhead continued glaring, making Naruto all the more uncomfortable. Something about this guy seemed to make his skin crawl.

"Are you here to help me prove my existance?" the boy asked.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Um...what does that mean?"

The boy reached up and pulled the cork from the giant gourd on his back. "Sabaku Kyu."

Suddenly, sand began pouring from the mouth of the gourd, and before Naruto knew what to make of it, the sand had snaked itself through the air and began wrapping itself around his body.

"Hey! What's happening?" he cried, struggling to break free. "Let go of me!"

But it was no use, as the last thing Naruto saw before the sand consumed his entire body was the gleam of evil in the eyes of boy.

LL


	5. Chapter 4

Well, here it is. A little late but a little longer, too. I actually broke the 5k mark with this one, which is a small acomplishment for me, I guess. Anyway, thanks again and as always to all my loyal reviewers, whether you've given me words of encouragement, helpful critisizim, or useful ideas to work with, I thank you all again. If it weren't for all of you, I'd probably have shelved this fic by now, or at least wouldn't be this far into it yet.

A few questions that keep coming up from reviewers:

This fic is NarutoXTemari. Yes, that's right. The official pairing for the story had been released. I've had many people ask, and was planning on keeping it a secret anyway for at least a few more chapters, but then I found out that my story had been added to a yaoi C2 that was dedicated to Naruto and Gaara, which made it clear that it was time to come clean. Anyone who was hoping for something besides Naru/Tema, I hope you're not too disappointed and that you continue to read.

Jiraiya...most likely will not hold a large place in this fic, if any at all. That means that Naruto's gonna have to learn a few new techniques so he's not completely reliant on the Kage Bunshin. But that's for later.

A special thank you goes out to **Doc Destructo, Dragon Noir, Taka, Yo, cevgar, and Cupid's Bride** for the extra indepth comments and additional help. Everyone else, thank you all as well, just know that I don't have the time or space to mention you all here.

And on that subject...on to Chapter 4 of-

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The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 4

One week ago had marked the day that the fox demon carrier, Uzumaki Naruto, had left the village. What followed the days after had been scenes of scattered celebration among the villagers. It was never anything too obvious, but you didn't have to be a top-ranked jounin to notice the air of happiness that had risen from all over Konoha. People stayed out to all hours of the night in bars, drinking and laughing over the fact that they could all finally live in peace again. No more would they have to put up with that demon brat's antics, having to fear for the lives of themselves and their families that he would go on a killing spree at any given moment, and finally start enjoying their lives.

This was the general consensus, anyway. But there was a significant amount of people who failed to share the joy of the others.

For one, the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen stand and his daughter were already starting to see the beginning of hard times. It had been well known that Naruto had always been their best customer, but even they didn't realize just how great he had been for them. Since Naruto's departure, they hadn't even been making a quarter of the amount that they'd used to. They hadn't had many other regulars before, but now it seemed like people were avoiding the place all together, as if going there might somehow bring the boy back.

Even worse was the case with Hyuga Hinata. Every one of the members of the Hyuga family could see a distinct difference in her. Where she had been a below average ninja in their eyes before, she was now downright terrible. Her sparring matches against her sister Hanabi never lasted any longer than a minute, her focus was completely off, and she seemed to have lost all motivation in even being a shinobi.

None of them even considered the connection between her skill downfall and the disappearance of the fox carrier, and so were trying to find anything to point their fingers at that might be the cause. A few concluded that it must be the genin team that she had been put in. Perhaps her teammates were somehow clouding her judgment, or her sensei wasn't pushing her hard enough.

Others questioned the actions of Hiashi. The Hyuga clan was not known as a very affectionate bunch, but some of the more sympathetic members felt that it was Hiashi's overbearing harshness toward his daughter that had led to the loss of any confidence she might have once had. These comments were met with open disdain from the head of the Hyuga clan, as he claimed that he had treated Hinata no differently than Hanabi, and she was turning out just fine.

If anything, the last week had caused Hiashi to become even colder to his eldest daughter. The disappointment and scorn that he had shown in the past was now in full force, so much so that Hanabi had started going out of her way to try comforting her, though no matter how much she pried she couldn't get Hinata to open up and say what was really bothering her.

Her team had tried similar tactics with similar results. Not even Kurenai could figure out a way to bring Hinata out of her depression. And as the days went on, the genjutsu expert was beginning to seriously doubt Hinata's future as a shinobi...

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At the foot of the Hokage monument, Iruka sat staring downheartedly up at the stone faces. He'd been there for a few hours now, coming just as soon as classes had ended, just like he'd been doing for days. Villagers and shinobi alike knew not to bother with him at times like this, which was why he was rather surprised to hear the sound of approaching footsteps behind him. He shifted himself to face the newcomer.

"Iruka," the man greeted.

Iruka grimaced. It seemed it was that time again.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama," he said flatly.

Sarutobi moved over to stand next to Iruka, leaning heavily on his walking staff. He let out a groan as he lowered himself into a seated position. Iruka began absently playing with one of his kunai, twirling it on his finger and then scrapping at the ground with it.

Several minutes went by in silence before Iruka couldn't take it any longer. "Is there something you wanted from me, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi took several puffs of his pipe, and then blew a small smoke ring straight up into the air. "You're doing it again, Iruka."

"Doing what, sir?"

"You know what, Iruka," the old man told him. "You're blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault. Just like you did before..."

"How can I not blame myself, Hokage-sama?" Iruka demanded, driving his kunai into the cement next to him. "If I had just let go of my stupid hate for what Naruto had inside of him and started acknowledging Naruto himself this might not have happened." The scar-faced chunin stared at the deep crack created by his weapon and breathed a heavy sigh. "There were so many things that I could have done differently for him..."

Sarutobi shook his head. "There were plenty of things that all of us could have done, Iruka, including myself."

"But sir-"

"Nobody in this entire village really took Arashi-sama's words to heart, you see," he interrupted. "Naruto was meant to be the hero of Konoha for being used as a sacrificial container without even given a choice. Instead, everyone who didn't outright scorn the boy simply ignored him all together. I wasn't much different, I'm afraid."

Iruka remained silent, signifying Sarutobi to continue. "I think back now...when Naruto first left that orphanage, I shouldn't have allowed him to live on his own. If I had simply taken him in myself, or possibly found someone else who would be willing to do the same, how much better would he have turned out? He could have gotten the attention and guidance that he so desperately needed."

The two fell into silence again.

"Isn't there anything more we can do?" Iruka wondered out loud.

Sarutobi shrugged. "We've already concluded that Naruto is no longer within the boundaries of the Fire Country. The odds of finding him anywhere else at this point are all but nonexistent unless some word of him reaches us. We also can't forget that there are other people outside of our village who know about the Kyubi. If someone were to find Naruto and discover what he is...well, I'm sure you don't need to be told what could happen then."

"But can't we-?"

Sarutobi held his hand up to silence him. "However, there is one thing that we can do."

The Sandaime paused again, taking another long puff of his pipe. Iruka was getting the feeling that the Hokage was doing it on purpose to torture him, but he held his tongue.

"Currently, we are bound through a signed peace treaty with Sunagakure and the land of Wind. The chances that Naruto is actually in the Wind country are slim, but if I were to send an envoy to the Yondaime Kazekage, perhaps he will agree to send a search team for us."

The look of renewed hope on Iruka's face was enough that Sarutobi hated to finish his thoughts aloud. After all, even if Naruto had ended up in the land of Wind, there was no telling if he would be in Suna, what condition he would be in, or even if he was still alive. Chances were just as likely that he'd ended up in the land of Rain, Sound, or even Earth, which would cause serious problems given the general relationships they shared. He also had to think of a convincing story to give to the Kazekage, who no doubt would decline sending his shinobi out to search for one missing boy unless there was a very good reason for it.

Forcing himself back to his feet, Sarutobi grasped his staff and glanced back up at the monument. "I'll send someone out at dawn tomorrow."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Iruka said, giving him a deep bow of gratitude.

The Hokage chuckled. "You make it sound like I'm only doing this because you want me to, Iruka. I certainly can't speak for everyone else, but I honestly believe that it's been far too quiet around here this past week.

Iruka nodded. "I agree, Hokage-sama."

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"YOU IDIOT! Are you trying to get me killed!" Temari shouted in manic hysteria while furiously shaking Naruto by the front of his orange jacket.

"I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about-!" Naruto cried, forcing out one word at a time with each forward snap of his neck.

Temari managed to calm down enough to stop shaking the boy, but still kept a tight grip on him. "That soba you ate was lunch for my brother, Gaara. I promised him I'd bring food home for him and if I don't he's gonna..." she shivered just imagining what he might do.

Naruto struggled unsuccessfully in breaking away from her. Frankly, he was now at a loss. Just as he was starting to think the girl was an okay person to be around, she now looked like she was ready to throw him out a window. The fact that his room had no windows made him even more worried.

"D-don't you think you're overreact-"

"I'M NOT OVERREACTING!" she screamed. "There's no such thing as overreacting when it concerns Gaara! He's cruel, ruthless, bloodthirsty...and those are his better qualities! I don't even have enough money with me to buy him anything else." She gave him several more rough shakes. "Why'd you have to eat it!"

"I'm sorry! I thought it was for me, honest!"

"Why would you think that?" Temari questioned, still looking halfway delirious.

Naruto began poking his index fingers together, looking about to pout. "Well, you brought it here and set it down next to me and it smelled really good..."

Heaving a mighty sigh of despair, Temari dropped him to the floor, fell onto the bed and buried her face into a pillow. Naruto briefly entertained the idea of running while she wasn't looking, but changed his mind. Even if she was scary, and quite possibly a little unstable, he still couldn't just leave with her upset like this. But, just to be safe...

Temari felt like crying, and if it wasn't for basic pride and the fact that she had never openly cried in her life, she probably would have. How could she possibly express to the boy just how much danger she could very well be in over something that would appear so insignificant to anyone who didn't know Gaara?

There were only a few simple rules for someone like Temari to live by. Those were: Don't piss off Gaara, and if for some reason you do piss off Gaara, do everything in your power to make things better.

She had promised food for Gaara, and now she had none. This was going to piss off Gaara. She had no money and so was unable to buy him anything else. This was not going to help make things better.

Temari was screwed.

...Unless...

She heard and felt the bed move as Naruto sat himself down next to her. "You know, Temari-neechan, I'm pretty sure it's not as bad as you think. I mean, I don't have a brother, but if I did have one, and he let someone eat my lunch, I don't think I'd be that mad. ...Well, maybe if it had been my limited addition premium blend ramen that I'd been saving for special occasions I'd probably beat him up, but-"

Temari had never really been listening to him in the first place, just staring at him as she mulled her idea around in her head. It was certainly cruel and not something she very much wanted to do, but as the old shinobi slogan went: There are a lot of times when you must do things you don't want to if you hope to survive. And Temari _really_ wanted to survive.

"-to believe that he'd be so upset over this, ya know?" Naruto continued, completely unaware that Temari hadn't heard a word he'd been saying. "And besides, if you just tell him it was a misunderstanding, he'll understand, right?"

"Maybe," Temari answered flatly. "But I have a different idea than telling Gaara what happened."

Naruto blinked. "Oh?"

"Yep," she said with a nod. "I'm going to have you tell him, instead."

Naruto rubbed his chin. "Ah, well I guess that's-WHAT?"

"Why not? You're the one who ate it without asking, after all."

Naruto began edging himself away from her until he slipped off the bed, then continued to slide back until his back was pressed against the wall. "But-but-but y-you said he was cruel, ruthless and unstable!"

"And bloodthirsty," Temari reminded him.

"So why are you trying to make me tell him if he's that bad?" he asked.

Temari shrugged. "Better you than me, I suppose. Besides, you seem to keep forgetting that it's your fault. Why should I take the blame for you?"

Naruto gulped as he watched the blonde reach for her fan. "But you're his sister! He'll be nicer to you if you do it!"

Temari snorted. Yeah, that would be the day...

"Sorry Naruto, but I'm really left with no other options. It's either you take your punishment like a man, or my brother gets grumpy and reigns terror and destruction upon me and the rest of Suna. Now are you going to do the right thing willingly, or do I have to hog-tie you and deposit you at my brother's feet?"

Naruto sweatdropped hard. "Uh, can I just say something?"

"It's not going to change my mind, but what is it?"

"I have money."

"I don't...what?"

Naruto shakily pulled out a small green frog-shaped wallet and held it up for Temari to see. "Uh, eheheh...you can have some if you want."

For a second, Temari didn't respond at all. Then before he even knew it, Naruto was again being lifted off the ground by his shirt and the money pouch had been ripped from his hand.

"You dumbass! Why didn't you mention that before! I was having a conniption here, damn it!"

The blond boy attempted to apologize, but suddenly felt his body shifting into a different position. It took him a moment to realize what it was; Temari was now hugging him, apparently out of sheer relief.

"This is great," she cried. "Now Gaara won't even have to know and no one has to die!"

"Gah...too...tight," Naruto squeaked out, right before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Temari clutching at nothing in his absence.

"Huh?" The Kunoichi stared in shock at the place where Naruto had just been standing. She looked all around the room, but saw no trace of him. Then she noticed something even more disturbing.

The money pouch had disappeared along with him.

----------

Meanwhile, the real Uzumaki Naruto had just about reached the front door of the hospital.

_Thank Kami for Kage Bunshin_, he thought to himself. When Temari had first started freaking out about him eating the soba, he'd felt that it was definitely time to leave. So the moment Temari had buried her face in that pillow and taken her attention off of him, he'd created a clone and silently slipped out the door.

Of course, he'd stayed just outside so he could still hear where the conversation would end up going. If she had calmed back down, then he would have gone back inside. But when he heard her talking about handing him over to her unstable brother, he felt the time was right for a strategic retreat. Whatever happened after that didn't matter, just so long as he got away before she noticed.

"Man, just when I think I have people figured out," he muttered as he pushed open the door.

He had only taken a single step outside when he felt the building shake from a terrifying roar that sounded a lot like someone screaming, "U-ZU-MA-KIIII!"

The fox boy shuddered. "Damn."

----------

Kankuro walked along the sandy Suna road at a leisurely pace. A large sack was slung over his shoulder, and a small white box was gripped in his hand. Today was turning out just great. He'd managed to find the perfect piece needed to upgrade Karasu, he hadn't had to mess with his deranged brother or his bossy sister all day, and he'd made four children run away in fear just by walking up to them and saying "Boo".

Life was good.

Reaching into his box, he pulled out a stick of yakitori and began munching on it happily, completely oblivious to the world around him.

So oblivious, in fact, that he barely managed to move out of the way as an orange blur ran by him. Looking back, Kankuro saw the blur leap up onto a rooftop and continue on his way as though he were being chased by hell hounds.

"Little punk," he grumbled. "You just feel lucky that you caught me in a real good mood, or I'd-"

Whatever Kankuro might have done was lost to the world, however, as at that moment a second person ran by. This time he wasn't able to move in time and the two collided.

Kankuro sat up and snarled. "Damn it all! Doesn't anybody look where they're going anymore! I've got the right mind to...Temari?"

The puppet master's sister sat up as well, rubbing her lower back slightly. "Sorry, Kankuro, but did you see that boy go by here?"

Kankuro blinked in confusion. "Could we be any less specific, please?"

Temari scowled at him. "You know, Naruto, the one from yesterday. I can't let him..." She trailed off as she noticed a small white box lying on the ground beside her. She opened the top and her eyes widened.

"A gift from Heaven!" she cried. She snatched the box up and ran off, not even caring if she found Naruto again or not.

"Hey! That's my lunch, Temari!" Kankuro called as he gathered his stuff up and gave chase.

----------

Naruto continued on through the village, not certain but also not wanting to look if Temari was still after him. Instead, as he bounded from rooftop to rooftop, he pondered about his current situation. He figured that his best bet was to leave Suna before he attracted any more negative attention to himself. The last thing he needed was a repeat of Konoha. It was a shame though; Temari and her make-up wearing brother and their sensei hadn't seemed so bad yesterday, but if they were to find out what he was...

So his mind was made up; he would leave and try to start again in a new village, possibly a normal village where he wouldn't have to worry about ninja coming after him. Then he'd create his own training routine and become super powerful and he could be the village guardian against invaders and dangerous creatures.

Yeah, that could work. Maybe it wasn't Hokage, but at least he'd be loved and respected.

But he still faced a problem. How was he going to get out of here? The village was in the middle of the desert, and the last time he tried traveling through the desert he'd almost died. Maybe he could find a guide...or a large tank of water that he could carry with him.

Risking a look behind him, he noticed that the fan wielder was nowhere to be seen, which made him relax a little. At least now he could work out a plan in peace.

Just as he kicked off from another building, he turned back to face forward. Warning senses perked up within him as he saw that there was someone standing on the roof that he was headed toward. In fact, he was going to land on top of him at this angle.

"Hey, watch out!" he shouted to the redheaded boy.

The boy didn't move or even look like he's heard him. Panicked, Naruto began flailing his arms and legs around in a vain attempt to change his mid-flight course. When he realized it wasn't helping, he squeezed his eyes closed and awaited the impact.

When the impact did come, it wasn't anything like Naruto thought it might have felt. Instead of colliding with a relatively soft body of another human, he felt a much more forceful contact, like he'd jumped into a cement wall or something. The force of the collision dizzied the blond, causing him to fall hard onto his backside.

He shook his head a little to clear his vision, but found himself staring at something peculiar, to say the least.

"S...sand?" he questioned in disbelief. But it was true, there really did seem to be a small wall of sand before him that most certainly hadn't been there a second ago. Hesitantly, he reached forward to touch it, but pulled back as the wall crumbled away to nothing and he found himself staring up into the pale face of the boy he's almost hit.

Naruto jumped back to his feet, rubbing his slightly sore face as he studied the boy before him. The boy might have looked a bit comical if he didn't have such a mean look on his face. He didn't seem to have any eyebrows, but he did have some sort of thick, dark rings all around his eyes, making Naruto think of a panda, or a raccoon or something.

The two boys stared at one another in silence, one with a piercing glare, the other with an apologetic grin.

"Sorry about that," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I wasn't really looking where I was going, and I didn't see you there, so uh...My bad, okay?"

The redhead continued glaring, making Naruto all the more uncomfortable. Something about this guy seemed to make his skin crawl.

"Are you here to help me prove my existence?" the boy asked.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Um...what does that mean?"

The boy reached up and pulled the cork from the giant gourd on his back. "Sabaku Kyu."

Suddenly, sand began pouring from the mouth of the gourd, and before Naruto knew what to make of it, the sand had snaked itself through the air and began wrapping itself around his body.

"Hey! What's happening?" he cried, struggling to break free. "Let go of me!"

But it was no use, as the last thing Naruto saw before the sand consumed his entire body was the gleam of evil in the eyes of the boy.

----------

As Naruto struggled to break out of his prison, the Kyubi stirred. Lifting its head, the fox inhaled deeply. It had long ago managed to block out the rancid stench of decay and mold from the sewers that it was trapped in, but now a new, yet more familiar scent was reaching him.

A feral chuckle that could have easily been misinterpreted as a snarl escaped the Kyubi's throat. **"So, you're _that_ one. ...Heh, weak as ever, I see. No fun for me here."**

And with that being said, the Kyubi laid its head down and went back to sleep.

----------

Gaara was doing his own evil laughing as he slowly raised the fool trapped in his Sabaku Kyu higher up into the air. It would be much more entertaining and enjoyable for him if everyone in the village were to see the slaughter that he was about to perform with their own eyes. It had been almost three days since the last time he had taken life from this village; it wouldn't do to have anyone forget that he was still among them.

The voice within him growled at him to hurry up and kill the boy. There was no sense in adding needless suspense to it. Fear was one thing, but blood was what it truly desired at the moment.

Gaara pushed the voice away. The casket of sand was now a good fifty above the rooftop, giving a good view to anyone who happened to turn their eyes to the sky. A gleam appeared in his eyes. Once again, he would see the sands of Sunagakure stained red with the blood of one of its own. He began clenching his hand into a fist.

"Sabaku..." And then he stopped. Something seemed odd. The sand that held his prey seemed to be expanding. Even from that high up, Gaara would see that the blob of sand was growing in size. But why?

Could it have been that...his prey was fighting back?

That thought sent a shiver of pleasure up the boy's spine. How long had it been since his prey had fought back? Too long, much too long. This was wonderful! Perhaps he could finally have fun...

Lowering his hand, Sabaku no Gaara watched on, waiting to see exactly what would happen next.

----------

Temari and Kankuro walked along back toward their home, the former humming cheerfully to herself, the latter sporting a large bump that was visible even through his black hood.

"Why didn't you just tell me you needed it for Gaara?" he grumbled.

"I told you it was a matter of life and death," she retorted.

"You still didn't have to use your stupid fan. You don't see me whipping out Karasu every time I want to prove a point."

"That's because you hate the thought of me smashing up your little toys. And don't think that I never notice when you use him to chase after those kids who play down the street from us."

"What I do in my free time is my business, and you've completely missed my point!" he shouted, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "And you owe me lunch, too."

Temari grinned despite herself. Suddenly, it was like the last hour of her life hadn't even happened. Everything was back to normal again. By all accounts, that was probably a good thing. Then, as a stray cloud passed in front of the sun, she happened to look up.

"Oh shit," she swore. Kankuro glanced at her in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

She pointed upward, and he followed her gaze up to the sphere of sand floating high up in the air.

"Oh shit," he concurred. "Why already? We just got back from that mission. He should be satisfied for a week at most!"

Temari remained silent, but was thinking the same thing. After Gaara killed enough, he usually didn't kill again for several days. And it had only been two days ago when he had single-handedly massacred close to twenty shinobi. That should have been enough to sate his bloodlust for a week at least, just as her brother had said. The only option would have been if someone had somehow provoked or angered Gaara.

God, she hoped that wasn't it. If it was then it was most likely her fault for taking so long with his food. Was the imminent death of whoever that innocent person was resting on her shoulders?

"Temari! Kankuro!"

The siblings turned to the source of the voice, not surprised to see Baki running toward them.

"You saw it too, huh?" Kankuro asked, even though it wasn't so much a question as it was a statement.

Baki nodded. "Any idea who it is or why Gaara's killing again so soon?"

They both shook their heads, though they both subconsciously glanced down at the box in Temari's hand.

Baki let out a distressful sigh. "Nothing we can do then except wait for him to calm back down."

While Baki and Kankuro kept their eyes focused on the floating sand, Temari diverted her eyes to the ground. She, herself, had already killed several times in her life, but it had always been during missions, against people who knew how to defend themselves. Somehow, watching Gaara do the same...no, even worse things to innocent people like this would almost make her feel ill.

She waited, not sure what for, just some sort of signal that the carnage might be over. What she got was a noise of interest and confusion from Kankuro and Baki. Curious, she looked back up just in time to see the sand explode. Only this time, unlike every other time she had seen it, the sand had exploded outward rather than inward. And what she saw after that was...

"Oh...my...God," she uttered.

"What in Suna's name...?" Baki demanded.

"That...that disgusting orange color," Kankuro said, mouth fully agape. "Don't tell me..."

----------

Gaara's eyes widened in wonder as the sky above him began overflowing with orange-clad people.

Two. Eight. Nineteen. Thirty-seven. Seventy-one. A hundred and fifteen. And still they kept pouring out until finally he couldn't keep up with counting anymore.

They landed all around him: On the roof with him, on the surrounding roofs, all along the streets between them. When the last clone landed, Gaara felt himself resembling a small island within an ocean of orange.

One of the Naruto's stepped forward, breathing deeply and visibly sweating from the exertion of creating so many clones. He faced Gaara, baring his longer than average canines at him.

"I've...had a lot of crap happen to me in my life," he informed the Sand nin. "Especially in the last week alone. But something like this...don't think I'm gonna just let this go! I don't know what your problem with me is, but if it's a fight you're looking for, then I'll be more than happy to kick your raccoon-eyed ass!"

If Gaara felt any intimidation at the challenge at all, he hid it incredibly well. In fact, he was grinning from ear to ear, and not in a very friendly way.

"I think...I'm really going to enjoy killing you," he said.

Naruto and every single one of his clones cracked their knuckles. "Just try it!"

End Chapter 4

----------

I will mention here that the grammar might not be the best. I was really rushing myself to get this thing sent out before I went to bed, so read it with an open mind, please.

Aside from my computer glitching up with viruses and such, there is another thing that's been slowing my writing process down. While I was waiting to get my comp back, I was struck with this huge inspiration for a new story that just won't leave me alone. Now, I don't have any intention of sending out a new story before finishing this one, but I will probably be writing bits of it from time to time so as not to forget it later. If you want a little sneak peak, it's going to be a harem-style story, because quite frankly there aren't enough good ones, and it's the only way I can think of to counter-balance the unholy amount of yaoi fics out there.

So keep checking in with me and I'll post updates for how my new story is progressing on my profile page. I imagine 'Pride of Suna' to run approximately 15 chapters (more or less), so the sooner I finish it, the sooner I can move on to the next piece, which I have affectionately titled "The Dangers of Being a Konoha Playboy". I guarantee you it will be far different from any other harem fic you've ever read.

Well now, I am officially exhausted, so I'm going to bed. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next one hopefully within the next week or two.

Thank you, and good night.

LL


	6. Chapter 5

Whew, finally I got it finished. Okay, chapter 5 is officially up. I'd like to thank all my readers for their patience (or lack thereof, in some cases), and since it's really late over here I won't waste a bunch of time talking here. If I didn't respond to your review, I either missed it on accident, or you were annonymous. Either way, don't think you weren't appreciated for it, because you were. All of you, though I do need to say one thing to **"Servant of the Almighty Kyubi"**

Iwa, along with Suna, and several other smaller countries like Rain and Grass, are all to the West of Konoha. The countries of Kumo and Mizu are the one's that are to the east. If you need a proper map to check, go to wikipedia and type 'Naruto geography', it'll give you a fairly detailed one.

That's about it, so one with the chapter.

The Pride of Suna

by Legendary Legacy

A Naruto fic

Standard Disclaimer still applies.

Chapter 5

The citizens of Sunagakure can largely be categorized as a despondent group. On the surface, they seemed no different than any other community. Even if one were to have a passing conversation with one of them, they still wouldn't seem so abnormal. But when it came right down to it, the entire populous of Suna were a shaken, depressive, and all around pessimistic bunch. This, of course, was the direct result of living in a village with a borderline-psychopathic killer.

While the direct source of the villager's discontent wasn't spoken of much, they could be incredibly vocal about political matters. Not many commoners of Suna thought much of the current Kazekage, while even fewer cared anything at all for the daimyo of the Land of Wind. After all, it had been these two figure-heads of the land who were directly responsible for creating the monster known as Sabaku no Gaara.

To this day, it was considered taboo to even mention the boy's name, the general feeling being that he might hear you and kill you for talking about him. If the villagers had ever stopped to consider it, they might realize that the only times that Gaara killed was against a potential assassin, or if a villager did something to anger him, such as scream and run away at the mere sight of him.

When the people began noticing the rising ball of sand above their heads at that moment, everyone came to the same conclusion: It would be best to get far away, just in case one innocent life wasn't enough for Gaara on this day.

So imagine the shock everyone had felt upon seeing the sandy prison burst open, sending a tidal wave of orange down onto the city. The added shock of hearing the mass of identical strangers declare a battle against the resident demon container was almost too much for the majority to take.

But even then, no one even entertained the thought that this stupidly brave stranger might stand a chance.

----------

"Go!" Naruto commanded his clone army.

Gaara stood, stoic-faced and cross-armed, as a dozen clones lunged toward him, only to be effortlessly flung away by a brush of his sand. The redhead was surprised, not that he'd show it, that the clones surrounding him were indeed physical rather than simple illusions. It didn't matter, of course. One or one thousand, he'd destroy them all just like he'd always done: Without even trying.

Naruto growled in frustration as several of his attacking clones poofed out of existence. "How does he control sand like that? He's not even forming seals!" He scratched his head in thought, then snapped his fingers. "All right, new plan! Hit him from every side at once! He can't block all of you!"

And again, Gaara stood unmoving as an even larger group moved to surround him. Calmly, he raised his right hand and pointed his index finger upward. The sand that had been swirling around the ground around him quickly rose up and molded together into a small dome around his body.

All of the clones blinked in confusion.

"What's he doing?" one asked.

"How should I know?" another answered.

"Maybe he's scared!" a third suggested.

"Yeah, he's hiding from us in there!" still another said with a assured laugh.

"WHO CARES!" The commanding Naruto demanded impatiently. "Break it down and show him who he's dealing with!"

"RIGHT!" the others all shouted back, pumping their fists in the air.

The swarm of approximately twenty Narutos attacked the sand dome, punching, kicking, slashing and stabbing at it with kunai. But nothing seemed to be making a dent in it.

"ALL AT ONCE!" they rallied, preparing to deliver a single, combined blow onto the shield. But their fists had barely made contact with the sand barrier before dozens of thick spikes erupted from it, impaling each clone several times and forcing them to disappear as well.

Naruto ground his teeth in a mixture of anger and nervousness. "Damnit, how the hell do I beat that?" he questioned to himself.

But before he could contemplate further, he saw several ripples begin traveling across the surface of the sand dome. He cautiously crouched down into a defensive position as several new clones jumped to the rooftop beside him to take the place of those that had been defeated already.

As the dome continued to ripple and shudder, Naruto came up with an idea. He pulled one of his clones over to him and whispered something into his ear. The clone gave a thumbs-up and jumped back off the roof.

Naruto turned back and barely had time to shield himself as the ball of sand began firing out like bullets in all directions. Clones began vanishing right and left, villagers that were watching from the streets below began running for their lives, though no many got away completely unharmed. Several rooftops away, Baki, Kankuro and Temari were ducked down behind the safety of the kunoichi's open fan.

"When the hell did he learn to do that?" Kankuro demanded, flinching as a sand bullet flew an inch past his left ear.

Baki mentally cursed. He needed to calm Gaara down quickly. The longer the fight lasted, the greater the certainty that Naruto would be killed, and after getting the word from the Kazekage, Baki couldn't afford to let that happen. Unfortunately, it would be nearly impossible to convince Gaara to stop at this point. What could he do?

Naruto's body shuddered as he forced himself back up to his feet. None of the sand bullets that hit him had been forceful enough to draw blood, but he could still feel several welts forming across his body. Looking around, he saw that nearly all of his shadow clones had been defeated, leaving only three or four remaining.

_How does he do it?_ he kept wondering to himself. _It's like he controls the sand without even trying and he can use it to attack or defend!_

He glared at his opponent, who was still standing before him, looking rather bored while the sand continued to swirl around his body. _But I'm not giving up yet!_

"You struggled much better than the others," Gaara informed him. "But you are still weak. Your only use now is offering me your blood."

Naruto grinned. "Think again, Raccoon-eyes!"

Gaara's eyes widen in surprise as a small hole burst open beneath him and a hand reached through and grabbed him by his pants leg. Instantly the sand began pouring through the hole, attempting to smother the clone below.

"This is it!" Naruto muttered. "Do it!"

The two clones to his sides each grabbed him by his arms. Together, they swung him backward, then flung him forward in a sling-shot fashion, giving him a boost of speed in the direction of Gaara.

_Heh, he's not even looking at me now! There's no way that sand will stop me this time!_

"Got you!" the blond shouted, throwing his fist forward-

"ULPH!"

Gaara lifted his head back up, finding himself staring into a twitching fist a mere centimeter from his face. The small wall of sand that had erected itself before him shifted and flung his would-be attacker away. Naruto collided with his two remaining clones, which promptly vanished, leaving him alone against Gaara.

"Damn," he grunted. "So close."

"Damn," Temari sighed. "Too close." She slid back and leaned her back against her propped up fan, taking several deep breaths to slow her raging heartbeat. The situation was nuts. If Gaara could just kill Naruto quickly and get it over with, it would be so much easier to calm him back down without him becoming an immediate threat to anyone else. The longer the fight dragged on, the more chance there was that...he would awaken.

But on the other hand, she honestly didn't want to see Gaara kill the boy. It may have only been yesterday that she first met Uzumaki Naruto, but with the interaction that they had shared since, she had to admit that there had been a little bit of bonding between them. It was nothing huge, by any means, but just the fact that they had shared a few conversations was enough to give him a high place in her life. After all, it had been years since Temari had been able to consider someone outside of her family a friend, and now that she'd found one in Naruto, the last thing she wanted was to see him die, least of all by her own brother's hand.

Unfortunately, as a shinobi, it was just something that she was apparently going to have to deal with.

"What is Gaara doing?" Kankuro asked. "He never plays with his enemies this long. Hell, he doesn't play with them at all! He could have killed that idiot ten times over by now. If he keeps wasting time like this, he's just gonna get more anxious!"

Once again, Naruto staggered back to his feet while Gaara watched in silence. Naruto did not want to admit it, but he was really reaching the end of his rope. Nothing was working against that stupid sand!

There was only one thing left he could think of trying. Slowly, he raised his hands to form a seal.

And that was when a very brave villager decided to speak up.

"Get him! Kill that stinking demon!" the man shouted.

"Yeah, kill the damn monster for us!" another from the crowd added.

Gaara shot a death-laced glare at the crowd, forcing all of them to flinch away in fright. Naruto, however, completely froze up in wide-eyed dread.

_They...they know? Even all the way out here, they know? How?_

If Gaara was curious or even took notice of his foe's sudden panic-attack, it didn't show. Raising his arms, he parted his sand in two directions. The streams of sand flew outward in wide arches, then veered back in again, closing in on Naruto from his left and right sides.

Naruto didn't seem to have any intentions of avoiding them. When the two streams collided, it sent a wide blast of sand in all directions, clouding the rooftop battle ground from all onlookers. Though everyone had already begun fearing the worst, they watched on timorously to see if the boy might have miraculously survived.

As the sand cloud settled, a small gasp escaped amongst the crowd. Temari and Kankuro stared at the scene, then at each other, then back again.

"What...?" Temari muttered.

"The hell?" her brother finished for her.

Gaara did not look pleased.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, malice filling his tone.

Baki slowly set a very surprised Naruto back down, keeping a firm grip on the boy's shoulder. Despite his earlier fears of tempting the redhead's temper, the jounin stood determinedly and spoke in a clear voice.

"Please forgive me, Gaara," he said. "But by decree of your father, Kazekage-sama, I cannot allow you to kill this boy."

"D...decree?" Temari stammered.

"From our old man?" Kankuro added in disbelief.

Gaara's face twitched in anger. "And why should I care?"

Baki stepped in front of Naruto, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Gaara, you know that I don't have the abilities to stop you from doing the things that you do, but you have to listen to reason. You can't disobey orders from the Yondaime."

Naruto stood in silence, hardly able to believe his eyes. His life had just been saved by someone he barely even knew. And unless he'd misheard, the Kazekage himself had personally demanded he be left alive. But why? If everyone here already knew that the Kyubi was inside him, they'd be wanting to burn him at the stake or something, wouldn't they?

"I implore you, Gaara," Baki continued. "Promise me that you'll refrain from trying to kill this boy."

Gaara's glare was sharp enough to cut steel, but he made no movement, even his sand had stopped moving about on it own and was now settled on the roof, no different from any of the rest of the sand in the area. A long and tense silence hung in the air around them. No one even dared move, lest they catch the sudden, furious attention of an angry Gaara.

Finally, the sands whipped back up, but rather than stretching out to attack Naruto and Baki, it slithered and receded back into the large gourd on the boy's back.

"I promise," he declared.

Baki, as well as everyone else, began letting out breaths that they'd barely been aware of holding.

"-to think about it," Gaara continued, replacing the cork into the gourd's hole.

Baki frowned. He couldn't push the issue any further at this point. At least Gaara was calm again, he really couldn't ask for more than that.

Giving a final glance to Naruto and Baki, Gaara turned to the rooftop where his two elder siblings were cautiously perched. "Temari!" he called forcefully.

Suppressing a shudder, the two shinobi jumped over, joining the other three. Temari did her best to not look half as scared as she felt under the glare of her brother. "Y...yeah, Gaara?"

He didn't answer, just held his hand out to her expectantly. Temari stared at the outstretched hand dumbly, until it dawned on her. Quickly, she pulled out the box of yakitori and handed it to him. She looked on as he opened the box and examined the contents inside. Slowly, he pulled a stick out and began munching on it as he turned away from them.

"Don't take so long next time," he growled before disappearing back into the house.

The moment the boy was out of sight it was like everyone suddenly deflated. Temari dropped to her knees, Kankuro leaned backward, supporting himself against Karasu, and Baki ran a hand over the visible side of his face, wiping beads of sweat away. With everything calming down, the crowd began to dissipate as well, going back to their daily lives or just getting far away from this particular area.

Temari sighed heavily as she turned to Naruto. "Um...you okay?" she asked tentatively.

"I guess so," he answered, rubbing a few of the bruises he'd just gained.

"What the hell, kid!" Kankuro demanded. "You have the ability to create half a million clones of yourself, but you tell us you're not even a genin yet? I admit I don't know much about Konoha, but those exams can't possibly be _that_ hard!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in discomfort. "Well, I actually learned the Kage Bunshin _after_ I failed the exam, but-"

"Kankuro, Temari, please leave us," Baki commanded. "There are a few things that I need to discuss with Naruto in private."

"Oh sure, why not?" Kankuro sniffed. "We certainly aren't in any hurry to get a few answers out of the one, and to my knowledge, _only_ guy to ever fight with Gaara and still be able to give said answers after it was over. No siree, just go on and leave us kids in the dark. Though you know you're horribly abusing your sensei-student relationship rights by doing this-"

"You can ask him whatever you want when I'm finished with him! Beat it!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're going," the puppet master grumbled. "But just remember, if you need help with the interrogation, Karasu and I are right inside."

The word interrogation made Naruto shiver, but the fan connecting upside Kankuro's head that followed managed to cheer him back up a bit. Temari gave him one last looking over before she grabbed her stunned brother and dragged him into the house behind her. Now alone with the half-hidden faced jounin, Naruto found himself at a loss for thought of what might happen next.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Baki began. "There are several things that I feel I need to speak with you about, but before I start, I need to you promise that you will hear me out until the end before making irrational judgments. Will you do that?"

Not seeing anything else he could do in the situation, Naruto nodded.

Baki mentally sighed. This part would be difficult. He had to gain Naruto's trust now, otherwise everything could be ruined, but he also had to worry about saying the right things without saying too much. He decided a simple question would be best to start with.

"Naruto, what prompted this fight between you two?"

The blond boy actually seemed embarrassed by the question. "Well uh...I was running, you see...and not really looking where I was going. And...I kinda ran into him. Er, ran into his sand, I guess. Anyway, I tried apologizing but then he said something about existing or whatever and trapped me in that sand of his, and..."

Baki nodded. "I apologize on his behalf. Gaara...isn't the most rational of people."

Something nagged at the back of Naruto's head. Gaara. Why was that name familiar?

Then it clicked. "Wait, you mean _that _was Gaara? The same Gaara as Temari's ruthless, cold-blooded, unstable brother?"

"...There's only one Sabaku no Gaara," Baki said simply.

Naruto shuddered. No wonder Temari was freaked out by that guy. And it really scared him that someone as scary as Temari could possibly be scared of someone else.

"You seemed very disturbed when the villagers began shouting about monsters and demons," Baki stated, catching Naruto completely off guard and unable to keep the fear from his face. If Baki had any doubts about what Naruto might be before, they were all gone now. He was positive that he was right. The boy looked ready to run at any given moment.

"Naruto," he said calmly. "I don't want you to misunderstand. Those people were not talking about you, they were talking about Gaara."

More confirmation, as Naruto's face changed to one of confusion, and possible relief.

"I know that," Baki continued. "-because aside from the Kazekage-sama, myself, and a select few other high-ranking shinobi, there's no one else here in Suna who knows about the Kyubi."

And even quicker than before, the confusion turned back to fear.

"You look terrified," Baki informed him calmly.

"I...I'm not him," Naruto stammered.

Baki smirked slightly. "You're lying, Naruto. Badly. You _are_ the one whose body holds the Kyubi no Yoko, of that there's no doubt anymore."

_Shit, shit, SHIT! It's happening all over again! Damn, isn't there anywhere I can go without having to worry-_

"But really, you have no reason to fear me, boy,"

_-about being hated and hunted after like a wild... _He blinked. "What?"

Baki gave him what appeared to be a reassuring smile. "In my opinion, you keep thousands upon millions of lives safe by having the Kyubi sealed inside your body. For that, you deserve nothing short of my utmost admiration and respect."

Naruto watched, completely dumbfounded, as Baki gave him a small bow. It took him several attempts at speaking before he finally found his voice. "Are...are you s-serious?"

Baki nodded. "You also seem quite stable with your actions. Do you ever have trouble controlling him?"

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I mean, I never even found out that it was inside me before-"

"Before you left Konoha and came here," Baki finished. That made the most logical sense now. Of course the boy would feel overwhelmed at news like that. His actions and comments also strongly suggested that the majority of Konoha detested the boy, which slipped in the final pieces of the puzzle surrounding the mystery of Naruto. Now that it all seemed to be figured out, there was only one thing left to do...

Reaching into his vest, he pulled out a small object made of cloth and metal and tossed it to the startled boy. "Here."

Naruto stared down at the object in his hand; a small strip of cloth with a metal plate attached to the center of it. A crude symbol of an hourglass was carved into the plate. He stared at the headband for several long seconds. "T...This is a..."

"Someone as young as you with such a mastery over Kage Bunshin is a very rare find," Baki explained. "Also, anyone who can hold out in a fight against Gaara more than deserves a place in our ranks."

The blond's body began to tremble. "Then I'm...I'm a..."

"As of this moment, I declare you, Uzumaki Naruto, an official shinobi of Sunagakure. From this day forward, you will be a student under me."

The floodgate of emotion that been building up within Naruto finally burst open with Baki's declaration. With tears of joy streaming down his face and his new hitai-ite clutched tightly in his fist, he jumped straight into the air with a loud cry of victory.

"YATTAAAA! NINJA NINJA NINJA!"

Baki watched in mild amusement as the boy jumped from one rooftop to the next and back again. He had zero time to react before Naruto leapt forward and tackled him in a overly-tight hug.

"I'm really, really a ninja!" he asked.

Baki pried the boy's arms from his waist and sat back up. "Yes Naruto. And as your new sensei, I'm hereby making a rule prohibiting you from any future physical contact with me."

Naruto chuckled and wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. "Sorry, but don't worry. On this Suna hitai-ite, I swear to become the greatest shinobi that the Land of Wind has ever seen!"

Baki huffed. The boy was quickly showing himself to be a nuisance, but at least he had the proper enthusiasm. "I'll be holding you to that claim, boy," he informed him.

"Yes sir!" he answered with a salute. "I won't let you down, Baka-sensei!"

The jounin's eyebrow twitched. "My name is Ba-KI."

Naruto blinked. "Yeah, what did I say?"

"...Never mind. Are you ready for your first official mission?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Mission? Already, really!"

"Familiarize yourself with the village, pay your respects to your Kazekage, and come back here to meet with your new teammates."

Naruto deflated a little. "Aw, that's all it is? Darn, I thought I'd get some seriously big and difficult mission on my first day as a ninja to match my superior abilities or-"

"Fine, do it all in one hour or I revoke your genin rank."

"EEEE! Okay, I'll do it!" He formed a quick seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Twelve clones appeared around him. Naruto began shouting out commands. "You three," he pointed to one group. "Scout that way! You three, that way! You three, over there, and you three, over there! Go go gogogo!"

The four groups of clones took off in their given direction while the remaining Naruto looked around frantically for the Kazekage's tower. "Where is it, where is it? Is that it?" he asked, pointing to the largest building in sight. Seeing the nod from Baki, he took off in a shot, leaving the jounin to sigh bemusedly. After all that he had been through that day, he still had enough energy to jump around like a child and create additional Kage Bunshins. He briefly wondered just how much energy the boy would have when it really mattered.

Baki couldn't help but heave another deep sigh. All and all and through the additional complications with Gaara, he managed to accomplish his own mission. He had gained the boy's trust and made him a shinobi. Now all that was left was to train him, and see if the plan he had formed with the Kazekage would pan out or not.

Either way, he was pretty sure that he'd be ending up with a very painful headache before it was all said and done.

----------

The Fourth Kazekage was not having a good day. What had started off as a mere irritant with Baki and his cockamamie plan with that supposed Kyubi container had only been the beginning of a downward spiral.

Later that morning brought a letter from the daimyo stating that several more budget cuts in the shinobi missions files were being taken again, as if they hadn't been run nearly dry at this point as it was. And now word had reached him that someone had gotten into a fight with Gaara.

The words "Fight with Gaara" had confused him greatly. No one ever 'got into fights' with Gaara. People simply 'got killed' by Gaara. There was never any 'fighting' to it. He was also bothered as the only time incidences like this tended to turn up were if he had issued another assassination attempt on the boy, which he hadn't bothered to try for a few months now, given the futility of it all in the past.

He was on edge, and really wishing for a nice indefinite vacation to some foreign land. If anyone else did something to further ruin his day, well...

That was when the doors to his office flew open. "Hey, old man Kazekage!"

THUCK THUCK THUCK THUCK THUCK THUCK THUCK THUCK!

The intruder blinked in shock, finding himself pinned very securely to the hallway wall by several kunai.

The Kazekage turned and calmly approached the young boy, removing another kunai from his sleeve and extending it to the boy's throat. "As someone at the tender age of 40, I would hardly consider myself an 'old man'."

The boy gulped. "S-sorry, I guess you probably wouldn't be as old as old man Hokage. Eheheh, my bad."

"Good. Now then, who are you and why shouldn't I kill you for barging into my office like this?"

The boy began speaking very fast. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha only I'm not from Konoha anymore and Baki-sensei made me a genin and told me to come see you and here I am so don't hurt me I'm fragile!"

The Yondaime examined the boy. "So...you're the one that Baki spoke of, are you?"

Naruto nodded. "Uh-huh. Um...Baki-sensei said that you, uh...knew about my...er, condition?"

The man's face twisted in shock. "Then you really are the..." Naruto nodded again, causing the Yondaime's thoughts to break apart. He never would have believed that Baki's guess would be true, yet unless this boy was lying, he was staring face to face with the houser of the Kyubi.

"I...see," he said softly, trying to re-gather his thoughts. "Then...are you stable?"

Naruto tilted his head at the surprising question. "Uh, I guess so."

"You don't have problems controlling the demon's will?"

"No, not really. I mean, there was one time before I left Konoha where he gave me some of his power, but that's about it, I think."

_The Kyubi cooperates with him?_ If that were true, it could almost be too perfect. They could have all the man power they needed with just one ninja. And, hoping he wasn't jinxing himself to bad fortune by thinking it, maybe he could be the one to rid the land of Gaara and the Shukaku once and for all.

His thoughts were interrupted by a low growling sound. Glancing around the room, his eyes finally landed on the boy's stomach, while the boy blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry, I haven't eaten a real meal in a while," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"...Indeed." Still pondering possibilities, he removed the kunais with a single wave of his hand, and backed up as the boy fell forward to the floor. "If Baki has deemed you worthy of our cause, then so be it. You have my official blessing to train and carry out missions under the banner of Sunagakure. Now if you will excuse me, I have many pressing matters to return to."

"Yes sir, old-er, Kazekage-sama," Naruto answered, hoping he wouldn't catch his slip. He grinned a truly happy grin. This had turned out to be one of the best days of his life. He'd made a somewhat friend with Temari, became a ninja, and to top it off, neither his sensei or the Kazekage had a problem with him being the Kyubi container.

There was absolutely nothing in this world that could make this day horrible for him!

As he turned to go, his stomach growled again. "Hey Kazekage-sama? Do you know where I could find a decent ramen shop?"

The Yondaime turned back to him with a light frown. "I'm sorry Uzumaki, but Sunagakure does not import ramen, nor do we have any shops that make it."

----------

Kankuro looked up from his workbench. Slowly he got up and walked into the living room, where Temari was resting. "Hey sis, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the kunoichi asked.

"That bloodcurdling scream that sounded like someone who's body was getting crushed little by little by Gaara's sand."

Temari shrugged. "I don't know, but Gaara's in his room by himself."

Kankuro scratched his chin. "Hmm, weird. ...Oh well." And with that, he returned to his room.

End Chapter 5

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A/N: I don't really have the time or energy to add anything down here right now, so if you have any questions or concerns, please leave them in a review or PM me. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Have a good night.

LL


	7. Chapter 6

Well, that took much longer than expected. I have excuses, but you probably don't want to hear them. Just know that along with the new chapter, I've also gone back and made the spelling/grammar and a few other small changes to chapters Prologue-2. And better than that, I decided to submit the first chapter of my harem fic, "The Dangers of Being A Konoha Playboy". My main effort will still be on this story, but I'll now be drifting back and forth a little bit between the two, so I hope you continue to enjoy them both.

Thank you all once again for all of the reviews and the occasional (and please keep it only occasional) prompting to write faster via PM. Without all of you readers, I probably would have lost interest in this story by now. So thank you all very very much.

And...on to the story!

----------

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfic

Standard Disclaimer still applies.

-----------

Chapter 6

"Sensei, you know I respect your decisions and everything that you've taught us in the past, but I now find myself wondering if you haven't gone senile."

"Your concerns for my mental wellbeing are duly noted and duly ignored, Kankuro," Baki calmly stated.

"But come on!" the boy complained, pacing back and forth around the living room area in aggravation. "You made _that_ guy a genin? And to top it off, you put him on _our_ team?"

"He does have a bit of a point, Baki-sensei," Temari commented from her spot on the couch. "After all, genin teams are only supposed to have three members and a jounin. And it just wouldn't be fair to make Kankuro leave just to make room for Naruto."

"Exactly!" Kankuro nodded. "And not only that- wait, what? What do you mean 'make Kankuro leave'?!"

"Well it's obvious," Temari stated as though it were written on the walls. "You're the weakest link of our team."

"Weakest link my face paint!" he retorted. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you're better than me!"

"Being older doesn't mean it," she admitted. "But my 97 sparring victories over you certainly do. How many times have you gotten the better of me?"

"...I've, er...lost count."

"Then you certainly can't count very high."

Baki stood back, resting against the wall as he watched the exchange in annoyance. This is why he'd never had children. Having already taught the two for some time now, he'd learned that it was simply easier to let them get their squabbling out of their system; otherwise they wouldn't be willing to listen to anything he tried to tell them.

Hearing the break in the bickering, he felt it safe to speak up. "If we could get back to the matter at hand, please?"

Kankuro shot one last dirty look at his sister before turning back to his sensei. "What's up with our old man? The last time a ninja from another country came to live in Suna he got so paranoid that he wanted the guy executed, now he's taking this idiot nobody in as a shinobi-" He snapped his fingers. "-just like that?"

"In case you forgot, Kankuro," the jounin said with a slight edge to his voice. "That 'idiot nobody' just survived a fatal encounter with your brother."

"Only because you bailed him out!"

"He has also shown himself to be an expert at Kage Bunshin. Creating as many as he did all at once would require an enormous amount of chakra. I don't think I could create that many."

The puppet master just snorted. "Ah, who needs bunshins anyway? Karasu's more reliable than that."

Baki sighed. What he wouldn't give for a group of not-so-stubborn bra...students. Begrudgingly, he turned his attention to Temari. "You've been fairly quiet, Temari. Do you have any objections to letting Uzumaki join you?"

Temari shrugged. "I don't know. I guess...as long as he doesn't slow us down or start messing things up for us, I don't really mind."

"Of course you don't," Kankuro grumbled. "What more convenient way to spend time with the only guy who's ever paid you a compliment- Would you stop swinging that thing at me?!"

Temari leaned back on the couch again, glaring at her brother and keeping a firm grim on her fan.

Feeling that he was out of danger for the moment, Kankuro went back to complaining. "And what about Gaara? How can you expect to put that guy on our team and have Gaara be okay with it after what just happened?"

_That would be the sticking point_, Baki admitted to himself. "I'm afraid the best we can do for that is keep Gaara calm and convince him not to try killing the boy again."

"Yeah, that'll work," Kankuro replied, rolling his eyes. "We'd have a better chance at convincing the sun to start rising in the north. If Gaara wants to kill him, you really think we're gonna be able to keep him from doing it?"

"Keep me from killing who?"

Everyone tensed, and turned to the hallway where Gaara was now standing. Temari suddenly found something very interesting to look at on the floor and Kankuro began focusing intently on rubbing out a nonexistent stain from his shirt.

Baki, realizing he was once again stuck with dealing with the boy, sighed and moved to the middle of the room. "Gaara, the boy from earlier, Uzumaki Naruto, is going to be training in our group from now on."

Gaara's blank stare gave nothing away of what he was thinking. "...Is Kankuro leaving?"

"Now that is not funny!" Kankuro yelled, ignoring the stifled laughter from Temari. "And what makes it worse is that I'm a hundred percent certain that he's not trying to make a joke!"

"Nobody is leaving, Gaara," Baki answered. "He will be joining the three of you as a four person team at least until we can determine how well his abilities will be able to aid us. Can I trust you to refrain from any further attempts at killing him while he remains with us?"

"No, you can not," Gaara answered bluntly. "I'll kill him if the urge arises. If you impede me again, then I'll kill you as well."

Baki, Temari and Kankuro all flinched at the boy's dangerous tone. They'd been hearing it for close to six years now, but it never stopped from terrifying them.

And just as the tension in the room reached it's highest, the front door opened.

"Hey, Baka-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he dashed into the room. "Did I make it back in time? It hasn't been a full hour yet, has it?"

With a collective gulp, the others turned from Naruto to Gaara, waiting to see what might happen. Naruto, noticing that the others had turned from him, also noticed Gaara at the other end of the room and recoiled.

"You again? Look, I don't know what your problem was with me before, but I don't want to fight you again if I don't have to, okay? We're supposed to be on the same team now, but that won't stop me from finishing the ass kicking I was about to give-Mmph!" The blond found his speech cut off as both Temari and Kankuro had slapped their hands tightly over his mouth.

"Are you insane?!" Kankuro whispered franticly to him, glancing back and hoping to God that Gaara wasn't about to snap.

Gaara just stared, however. His normally stoic glare was marred by a slight look of confusion. "You have seen my abilities, and you know that they are far greater than your own. Why don't you fear me?"

Naruto struggled away from the clutches of Gaara's siblings. "Why should I?" he demanded. "Just because you can control sand doesn't mean you're better than me! I'll figure out how to get past it, and then I'll beat you and anyone else who thinks they can stop me from achieving my goals! And you'd better believe it, or my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto!"

Silence fell over the room as three of the five occupants waited with bated breath. Gaara's eyes never broke away from Naruto's.

"You...interest me, Uzumaki Naruto," he said. "I wonder, though...how long will it take for your foolish bravery to crumble away to terror?" Slowly, he turned and began ascending the stairway back up to the roof. "Soon, Uzumaki Naruto, I will paint the desert sands red with your blood."

Naruto growled as Gaara disappeared from sight. "Jeez, what the heck's with that guy?"

He never saw the blow coming, only felt a brief pain in the back of his head before falling to the ground unconscious. A seething Kankuro tossed the giant fan back to Temari, who looked very cross at having it ripped out of her hands.

The puppet master turned a vicious glare at Baki. "This is the guy you want on our team? He's going to get us all killed!"

"Calm down, Kankuro."

"CALM DOWN!? How the hell do you expect me to calm down in a situation like this? Even you were two seconds away from jumping out the window and running for you life!"

Baki shook his head. "Listen to me, Kankuro. Naruto is not from Suna, and he knows nothing about the Shukaku. With time Naruto will grow accustomed to how things are here, until then we simply have to keep him from further provoking Gaara."

Temari fell onto the couch and put her head in her hands. "Baki-sensei, I'm all for giving this kid the benefit of the doubt, but why are you and dad so gung-ho about it? It doesn't make any sense that he would be given such acceptance so quickly by either of you."

Baki frowned. "I'm afraid that is something that I can not share with you yet, Temari. However, there is something special in Naruto, and we believe that with the proper training, he could become even greater than Gaara."

The children stared at him like his skin had turned purple. Kankuro let out a tired sigh. "Look sensei, it's late and I'm way too exhausted for jokes right now. So you go ahead and do what you want with the idiot, I'm going to bed. And just remember, if Gaara goes ballistic and kills us all because of him, I'm hereby reserving the right to spend eternity in our afterlife saying 'I told you so'."

After Kankuro walked off to his own room, Baki turned to Temari, who was in turn staring at the unconscious boy before her.

"Stronger than Gaara?" she asked, sounding very unconvinced.

Baki nodded. "That's why I need your help in keeping Gaara calm around him. If we can just build up his abilities, he could soon become one of Suna's greatest assets."

Another silence passed over the room as Temari tried to take in everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Ever since they had found the boy half-dead in the desert, nothing was making sense anymore.

"I'll take the boy with me until we can find a suitable place for him," the jounin said as he lifted the boy and tucked him under his arm. "All things considered, I don't think it would be wise to leave him here." He turned to leave. "Don't forget, meet at the usual training grounds at eight tomorrow morning."

Temari nodded. Now all alone, she laid back on the couch and gazed at the ceiling, wondering what other surprises her new teammate might bring in the days to come, assuming he lived that long, of course.

"Uzumaki Naruto..." she whispered. She still had no idea what Baki and her dad had seen in him that she must have missed, but she vowed then and there that she would do whatever it took to figure out what it was.

----------

Naruto awoke with a splitting headache. For several minutes he laid where he was, waiting for the throbbing in his head to subside. When it eventually did, he opened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar room. There was no light coming through the open window, but he could still make out the interior of the room.

There really wasn't much to look at. He found himself lying on a small bed with plain white sheets, there was a small dresser in one corner next to a door that led...somewhere, and a small desk with a lamp sitting next to the bed.

Reaching over, he pulled the lamp string, bathing the room in a dim light. Taking another look around the room to see if he'd overlooked anything, he spotted a folded slip of paper resting against the base of the lamp. Picking it up, he unfolded it and scanned the words written inside.

_Naruto,_

_This will be your room until further arrangements can be made. If you find this before morning, I advise you to rest well as our first training session will be at eight o' clock at the northern training grounds. I look forward to seeing more of your skills._

_On a far more serious note, I am instructing you to avoid Gaara as much as humanly possible. When we are not training as a group you are to refrain from approaching him, speaking with him, and above all, provoking him. I realize that you have your pride as a young shinobi, but you must understand when I tell you that you can not hope to defeat Gaara in battle. Not even I am able to accomplish such a thing, and angering Gaara further will only result in more bloodshed within our village._

_So for the sake of the village and everyone in it, keep a low profile where Gaara is concerned._

_Baki_

Naruto placed the letter back on the desk, lost deep in thought. After such a weird day there were so many questions he still wanted to ask about. He thought about his new team members.

Temari was nice; probably the nicest of the group, even if she did seem a bit short-tempered. At least she had taken the time to get to know him a little, and she had even sympathized with him when she learned about his leaving of Konoha.

Kankuro was a jerk, and he didn't have much doubt that it had been him who'd knocked him out earlier. But, like it or not, they were teammates now, and Naruto wasn't going to blow his chances of proving himself to the Kazekage and the rest of Suna just because he didn't get along with him.

That brought him to Gaara. This guy was a freak, plain and simple. Naruto had never known anyone, especially not someone the same age as he, who could so easily talk about killing people and be so descriptive about it. It just wasn't natural.

He thought back to what Temari had told him at the hospital. She had said something about noticing the signs of someone who had gone through life unloved like he had. She said she hadn't been talking about herself...was it possible she meant Gaara?

That made him think of their fight that day, and how the villagers had called Gaara a monster and a demon...

He yawned deeply. He still had plenty of thinking to do, but it would have to wait until tomorrow after some much-needed sleep.

----------

A sewer again. On one side, the long narrow corridors that twisted and turned in a seemingly never-ending fashion. On the other side, the giant prison cell that any normal person could have easily slipped through and escaped, which of course was not the case for the creature that it contained.

A pair of blazing red eyes appeared from behind the bars of the cell, gazing down at the boy with an unearthly hatred.

**"Back again?"** the demon growled. **"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me anymore."**

"It's not like I'm here on purpose!" Naruto shouted at him. "I just fell asleep and now I'm here."

**"Well go away. I don't like looking at you."**

Naruto crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the demon. "Make me! We're still in my body so I'll go wherever I want."

**"That phony arrogance of yours is sickening,"** said the beast. He swiped one of his many tails against the cell door, causing a loud clang and a small rumbling, but still the seal held. **"You can't even handle that weakling Shukaku and yet you put on an act before me because this seal keeps us apart."**

Naruto paused. "Wait, Shukaku?"

Kyubi let out a graveled chuckle. **"It seems I've said too much. Forget I said anything."**

"Oh no you don't! You can't just say something like that and then not tell me what you mean! Who is Shukaku? Does he have something to do with Gaara or something?"

The fox demon remained silent. Just as Naruto was about to start yelling again, it decided to speak.

**"Beg me."**

Naruto blinked in confusion. "What?"

**"Beg me and I'll tell you."**

"WHAT? Why the hell should I have to beg you for anything?" he demanded.

**"Because I gave you the power to defeat your enemy and escape from Konohagakure. If it hadn't been for me, you would have been caught and brought back to a severe punishment, but I've yet to receive any sort of thanks from you for doing it. So I'm not giving up anymore freebies, mortal; if you want anything further from me you'd better be prepared to fall to your knees and praise the mighty power of the Kyubi no Kitsune."**

"Not a damn chance in hell! I don't need your help for anything, and I've never asked for it, either!"

A loud grunt echoed through the sewer as the Kyubi turned his gaze away from the cell door. ** "You just remember that the next time you find yourself in over your head, which, considering it's you, shouldn't be too long from now."**

Naruto tried to respond, but found his surroundings beginning to blur out. A moment later, he found himself once again looking up at the ceiling of his new room. Sitting up, he squinted as sunlight was now pouring through the window.

He ran his sleeve over his face, feeling it covered with sweat. It might have been the dream experience he'd just had, or it could have been that it already felt like it was ninety degrees outside.

Moving to the edge of the bed and letting his legs hang over the edge, he tried to piece back together the conversation he'd just had with the Kyubi. What was it he had talked about? Shuku...something or other? Maybe he should ask Baki or Temari if they knew what it was.

His eyes suddenly widened. What time was it?

Jumping up and making sure he still had all of his clothes and equipment, he dashed out of the room. He found himself in a room not much smaller than the living room that he and the others had all been in the night before. Glancing around, he spotted a small clock sitting on a kitchen table, reading 7:50 AM. Sitting next to it was a bowl of fresh fruits and a glass of milk. Resting against the glass was another piece of paper, which he quickly picked up and scanned.

_I hope you memorized Suna well. Don't be late or I'll put Kankuro in charge of your training schedule._

_Baki_

"DAMN!" In a flash the milk was drained and a large handful of purple colored berries were jammed into his mouth. A second later he was out the door and blazing off in what he hoped was the right way. He hated to think of the things that jerk Kankuro would put him through if he was given the chance.

----------

"First, I'm gonna string him up to the highest branch on the tallest tree, and then cut him loose over and over until he's mastered control of his chakra climbing abilities. And then I'm gonna make him run laps around the village in the nude until he can make it all the way in less than two minutes."

"What does him being nude accomplish except for embarrassing him?" Temari questioned.

"Absolutely nothing," Kankuro answered with an inexplicably evil grin. "After that I'll work on his speed by having him dodge Karasu's poisoned needles with his arms and legs tied together..."

"You're enjoying this far too much, Kankuro," she informed him.

Gaara stood off to the side, occupying himself with forming spheres of sand in his hand and then crushing them over and over. Baki was staring at his timer, which was now showing less than a minute until eight.

He was certain that he had properly motivated the boy, given the rivalry that he could already begin to see growing between him and Kankuro. Maybe he'd forgotten something...

Ten seconds remained when an orange blur came into view on the horizon. He watched as it came closer, until the figure of Naruto could plainly be made out, running for all he was worth. He was only thirty meters away when he suddenly fell forward, face-first into the sand.

"That's cheating, Kankuro," Temari accused him.

Kankuro shrugged innocently. "I don't know what you mean, sis." With his hand behind his back, he cut the chakra string that he'd left hidden under the sand just on the chance that this would happen.

Undaunted, Naruto sprang up, ran forward and nearly collapsed before the others.

"Uzumaki Naruto...reporting for duty...Baka-sensei!"

The boy was then struck in the forehead by the timer that Baki had thrown at him.

"I overlooked that little slip-up once, Uzumaki. If it happens again I'm going to believe that you're doing it on purpose."

Naruto rubbed the small bump on his head. "So did I make it?"

"Barely," Baki admitted.

"Damnit!" Kankuro grumbled.

"Now, before we go too far into actual training, I want to see a little more of your hands on abilities, Naruto. We'll begin today with a short spar with-"

"LET ME FIGHT HIM!" Naruto and Kankuro said as one, glaring holes into each other.

"...Yes, I was going to say with Kankuro," Baki said, sounding annoyed.

Not even waiting for the others to clear the general area, Kankuro unraveled Karasu and Naruto created a half dozen Kage Bunshins.

"Allow me to give you my official welcome to Suna."

"Allow me to introduce you to my fist!"

The battle began.

----------

"Oof!" Naruto grunted, finding himself facedown in the in the sand for the third time in as many minutes. A few yards away from him, a laughing Kankuro stood next to a ghastly, gangly-looking puppet.

"Just like I said, Kage Bunshins just can't measure up to Karasu."

Naruto pushed himself back up, growling irritably. "Damnit, no way in hell am I gonna lose to someone who wears make-up and plays with dolls!"

Off to the side, Gaara, Temari and Baki stood watching, the first looking as stoic as ever, the second looking slightly confused and a little let down, and the third looking thoughtful.

"He's...not very good, is he, sensei?" the kunoichi stated more than asked.

Baki grunted an agreement, rubbing his chin absently.

Temari was correct, in a rather blunt way. While the boy certainly had an over-abundance of stamina, he just wasn't using his techniques to his fullest advantage. Despite what Kankuro had said, by all accounts Naruto, with his Kage Bunshin, should have had the advantage in this match. Fighting out in a barren sandy area with very few trees or large stones like they were, there were very few places for Kankuro to hide, leaving him out in the open as he manipulated his puppet.

In this sense, if Naruto had used his clones properly, he could easily have kept Karasu at bay while he or another clone attacked Kankuro from a blind side. Unfortunately, Naruto was doing little more than commanding his clones to charge en masse as opposed to forming any such strategies, and Kankuro's mastery over manipulating his favorite puppet was keeping the boy from getting close enough to attack.

The boy would definitely need work. Apparently being the container of Kyubi didn't automatically make you a genius shinobi.

"Ready to give up, midget?" Kankuro continued to taunt. "I've barely had to move a muscle yet and you've lost all of your clones already."

Naruto rubbed his sand-smudged face. "Then I'll just make more!" So saying, he performed his jutsu again and ten more Naruto's appeared around him. Kankuro just rolled his eyes.

"A one-trick pony, huh? Whatever, you keep settin' them up and I'll keep knockin' them down."

"I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve," he assured him. "Take this! Henge!"

Kankuro blinked in surprise as the Narutos vanished within a puff of smoke. "Henge?"

"Henge?" Baki and Temari mimicked his surprise.

Kankuro started laughing. "What the hell good is transforming...going...to...oh my-"

"Oooo, Kankuro-kun!" the group of well-figured and, if you didn't count the lingering smoke, naked woman squealed as they dove at the boy. Before Kankuro could even think to defend himself, the girls had latched themselves onto his arms, legs, waist and neck. "Come play with us, Kankuro-kun!" they cooed suggestively.

Kankuro didn't have a chance, as a geyser of blood shot from his nose and he collapsed in a blood-soaked heap.

The ten clones disappeared and the remaining girl transformed back to Naruto, who was looking mighty proud of himself.

"Harem no Jutsu," he explained to the unconscious Kankuro. "Learn to fear the name! For with this technique I, Uzumaki Naruto, am invincib-"

"BAKA!" Temari shouted, bashing the unsuspecting boy's head into the sand with her fan.

Naruto gave a few weak twitches before pulled his head out. "What was that for?" he asked, spitting sand out of his mouth.

"Are you trying to kill us?" the kunoichi demanded. She pointed behind her. "Look at what that stupid technique of yours did!"

Naruto glanced behind her, spotting Gaara, looking slightly curious with a light grin on his face. Next to him was an unconscious Baki, who was also bleeding profusely from the nose.

"Wow, I never would have thought that Baka-sensei would have been the type,"

"That's not what..." Temari growled and hauled Naruto back to his feet by his jacket. "Come here!"

She dragged him several meters away, until she was sure that they were out of hearing range of the others.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Listen baka, when Gaara sees blood he gets excited. And when he gets excited, he gets violent. Have you already forgotten what happened the last time Gaara got violent?"

Naruto paled slightly, remembering Baki's warning to him. "Er...right, so no Sexy no Jutsus around Gaara. Got it."

"How about 'No Sexy no Jutsu' period, you pervert? I'm embarrassed just knowing that someone on the same team as me knows such a move."

"Hey!" he whined. "I'm not a pervert! I just created it to defeat perverts, there's a difference! Besides, it's one of my best techniques; I've beaten every guy I've ever used it on!"

Temari looked disgusted. "Then it's about time you learn some new ones."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Are you saying you'll teach me some of your jutsus?"

She snorted. "You wish."

"Why not?" he pouted.

"Mainly because all of my jutsus are wind-based. You'd have to have chakra with a high wind affinity to even hope of learning any of my techniques."

"Well...maybe I do have a wind affinity!" he protested. "How do I find out whether I do or not!"

Sighing at the boy's stubbornness, she opened a small pack that she had brought with her that morning. Rummaging through it, she eventually pulled out a small square of paper. "Here, take this, hold it in your hand and focus your chakra into it."

Naruto grabbed the paper, staring at it like it was supposed to perform a trick. "What's a piece of paper supposed to do?"

"It's a special paper that determines people's chakra types. If you have a certain affinity with an element, it will have a significant effect on the paper. Just give it a try."

Naruto still looked skeptical as he glanced back and forth between the paper and the girl. "Well, if you say so..."

"I'm going to tell you right now though, some people don't have elemental affinities, and the chances of you having a wind affinity like me are-" She stopped talking upon seeing the slip of paper cleave itself perfectly into two halves in the boy's hand.

"...Better than I would have guessed," she mumbled dumbly.

Naruto stared at the two halves of paper in astonishment. "Hey, it split apart. What does that mean?"

"I guess it means we can start your jutsu training sooner that I thought," she said lightly, trying to hide her irritation at being proven wrong so quickly.

"Yatta!" the blond shouted, throwing his fist in the air. "New jutsu! How many are you going to teach me?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? Just because you can manipulate wind doesn't mean you'll be able to learn anything from me. I don't waste my time with low-level jutsu, you know?"

"No sweat!" he said excitedly. "I'll master everything you have to teach me, Temari-neechan! I'll become the best wind jutsu user in Suna!"

"You think so, huh?" the kunoichi asked, feeling slightly miffed. "Since you don't seem to already know, _I_ already am the best wind jutsu specialist in all of Suna."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, I was taught by the best, after all."

"The best?" His eyes widened. "You mean the Kazekage taught you?"

"Of course, he is our dad, you know?"

Naruto was astounded. "Why didn't you tell me that before?! If he's your dad, then you could put in a good word for me when my time comes to become the new Kazekage!"

Temari batted him on the side of his head. "You really do have a one-track mind, don't you?"

"Only if it's something I really, really want!" he answered proudly. "That reminds me, is it really true that there's absolutely no ramen in Suna whatsoever?"

Temari just shook her head, more in exasperation than to confirm his question. Without even realizing it, she'd ended up lost in a conversation with Naruto when she should have been concentrating on training. Maybe having someone around that she could actually talk to wouldn't be so bad.

Turning back to the others, they found that Gaara had already vanished and the two men were still out cold. "Well, it doesn't look like we're going to get any more training this morning."

Naruto had the good sense to look embarrassed.

----------

Naruto walked back through the village, having helped bring Kankuro and Baki back to the house to recover from massive blood lose, he was now searching for lunch. He hummed happily to himself as he went. Today was going great. He'd had his first team practice, would be getting special jutsu training from Temari, and beat that idiot Kankuro. It was all but perf-

He stopped his trail of thought right there as something clicked in his head. Ever since he'd come to Suna, his life had seemingly turned into a see-saw of good and bad fortune. Whenever something good happened for him, something bad kept happening soon after. First he'd made friends with Temari, Baki and Kankuro...sort of, but then he'd almost been killed by Gaara. Then he'd been made a ninja, only to find out that he was living in a village completely devoid of ramen.

Following that logic, and seeing how well his day was going so far, it seemed almost certain that his luck would be changing-

"Eep!" Naruto yelped as he felt himself trip over what felt like a small sand dune. Reflexively closing his eyes, he expected to end up with his face in the sand; hopefully no one would see him...

So he was rather shocked when he felt no impact, but instead felt himself being lifted upside down by his foot. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into a pair of light-green eyes surrounded by thick, dark rings.

Crap.

"Uh, what's up, Gaara?" he asked, hoping the situation wasn't really as bad as it looked.

"That technique you used," Gaara said darkly. "Teach me how it works."

"..." Naruto was dumbfounded. He attempted to speak once, but couldn't seem to form the proper words. He decided to try again. "...Whaaa?"

Gaara's blank stare didn't waver. "You caused Kankuro and Baki to bleed copious amounts without even touching them. All you had to do was change your appearance. I want to know how you did it."

Naruto blanched. It appeared the situation had just become worse than he had thought. "I uh...I really don't think that Temari-neechan would approve of that."

"Then die," was Gaara's short response.

"Wait wait wait!" Naruto cried as he felt the sand around his ankle start to spread up his leg. "Let's not be too hasty about this. I mean...well, why would you want to learn Sexy no Jutsu anyway?"

The sand stopped spreading, but it didn't recede either. "To make someone bleed as much as I like, I usually have to crush their bodies or rip them apart. Unfortunately, a person who is dead only bleeds once. It would be more enjoyable if I could make them bleed many times before I killed them."

Naruto cringed at the gruesome images that filled his head from those descriptions. Unfortunately, at the same time it seemed funny that Gaara would want to learn Sexy no Jutsu for such a reason. Naruto had to make the assumption that Gaara really knew nothing at all about women or the female body.

Still, he wasn't about to start laughing about it.

"You will teach me," said Gaara, sounding more like a command than a question.

Naruto quickly looked over his options. Possible death at the hands of a pissed off Temari, or certain death at the hands of Gaara.

God, his karma sucked.

"Well, you know...I can't guarantee that you'll be able to learn it, but if I show you how to do it will you please lay off the whole 'killing me' thing?"

Gaara looked to be contemplating the request. "If you cannot guarantee that I will learn it, then I can not guarantee that I won't kill you."

Naruto drooped. It didn't look like he was going to get off any easier than that. "Fair enough, I guess."

The sand dispersed, dropping the blond on his head. "Don't think that I'll forget," the redhead called back as he trudged off, leaving Naruto by himself again.

Naruto got back to his feet, brushing the sand from his hair. His life in Suna just kept getting stranger and stranger. Temari and Baki certainly wouldn't be happy if they happened to find out about this. On the bright side, however, according to his recent chain of fortune, he should be due for some good luck real soon. Maybe that good luck would come in the form of a traveling ramen vendor...

End Chapter 6

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You want to know what the hell really took me so long? Besides college, work, having my jumpdrive erased and typing part time on a different story? Well, it was the last scene. Honestly, it took me days to decide whether or not to leave the "Gaara wants to learn Sexy no Jutsu" plotline in the story or not. I still don't know if I want it or not, and might just remove it before I send out the next chapter, which will hopefully not take me another month to get out.

Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy Pride of Suna, as I'm still enjoying writing it

LL


	8. Chapter 7

(Mumble) I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another. (grumble)

Once again I've been delayed much longer than I'd hoped with my updating. What should have been released a day or two after Christmas ended up being almost two days after New Years. (Sigh)

I am not going to make a habit out of this, though. So help me Kami, the next chapter will be out sooner. Thank you to everyone for all your reviews and kind words. With the amount of reviews that I ended up with last time and since I've been having problems with my review alert function for some reason, I know there were some people that I forgot to thank personally, I apologize for that.

So here's Chapter 7. I hope you all enjoy it. Happy New Years or whatever holiday you may be celebrating!

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The Pride of Suna

by Legendary Legacy

A Naruto fanfic

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Chapter 7

Form hand seals.

Bird, Rat, Dragon, Bird.

Focus chakra.

Now, place fist on ground, and RELEASE!

"HA!"

He grinned triumphantly as he felt hot gusts of wind begin swirling around his body, kicking up sheets of sand in an imitation of Gaara's own. The winds continued to pick up speed, his grin grew wider and wider...

Until a blast of sand shot up into his face, knocking him to his back in a sputtering heap.

He sat up, spitting sand from his mouth and brushing out his hair. He was really beginning to hate sand really quickly. "Damn, I could have sworn I had it right that time."

"You're still not focusing properly."

Naruto turned to his companion. "What'd I do wrong this time, Temari-neechan?"

"Watch."

So quick that the boy almost missed it, Temari had formed the four seals and slammed her fist into the sand. Instantly, a strong wind picked up, casting a swirling vortex of sand around the body of the kunoichi. The sand twister roared loudly for several seconds before dying back down. Naruto, who had been blown backward by the sudden winds, sat up and gaped at her.

"Wow," was all he could mutter.

"Fuuton: Tatsumaki Shouheki. A defensive C-level jutsu used to deflect incoming projectiles as well as scatter enemies when surrounded."

The blonde sat down in front of him, setting her fan on the ground beside her. "Now, the reason why yours is still not working the way mine did is because you're still not grasping the concept of chakra manipulation to its fullest extent."

Naruto stared blankly, but nodded. "Okay, so what do I do?"

"First of all, you're gathering too much chakra required for the technique that you're trying to perform," the kunoichi continued. "But once you actually execute the jutsu, you don't release enough chakra for it to perform properly. That's why it keeps starting out so weak and slowly. But when you continue to pump chakra into your tornado to build it up, you put too much into it at one time, which is what causes you to keep eating mouthfuls of sand. The proper way to do it is to put in just the right amount and then keep that amount pumping in constantly. The longer you add your chakra, the longer and more powerful the tornado will become.

"You've been learning chakra manipulation with Baki-sensei for about three days now, and I don't know how much training you've had before coming here, but to be completely blunt, your chakra control absolutely sucks. By focusing excessive amounts of chakra and then only using about a third of it, you're wasting a huge portion of your chakra supplies. Remember, you can't reuse the wasted chakra that you've focused, so once it's gone, it's gone. Then you have to rest until you get your stamina back naturally. Are you keeping up with me?"

Naruto blinked, hiding his confusion well. "Uh-huh."

Temari rolled her eyes. "Fortunately for you, you've got more stamina stored up in you than an alpha male wolf. Even with all the chakra that you waste, you're still able to create waves of shadow clones without fatiguing. So if you could get a firm handle on your control, you could become one of the better shinobi that Suna has to offer."

Temari saw Naruto's eyes light up but cut him off. "I said 'could become', meaning if you can actually do it. Right now you've already proven that you're not even a match against Kankuro when he's not even using any of Karasu's weapons."

Naruto's brow furrowed in thought. "Wouldn't it just be easier to use a big fan like you use? That seems a lot simpler than having to form a bunch of different seals and focusing chakra and all that other stuff."

"Not necessarily, it isn't," she explained. "It's true that I don't have to form seals when I use my fan, but you still have to focus chakra. In fact, when using weapons to perform jutsu with, you have to be able to channel your chakra into the weapon itself, which is much more difficult than just manipulating it within your own body. If you mess that up, you have a good chance of destroying your weapon instead. Until you've mastered the basics, you won't have a prayer of a chance at mastering something like this."

Naruto drooped.

"Besides, a fan like this isn't something you can just go out and buy. This thing was made by my grandmother," she told him, running her hand along the giant fan fondly.

Naruto couldn't respond. Not having any grandmother or other family to speak of made it a bit hard to relate to.

The moment passed and soon the two were back to training. Naruto repeated the process of forming, focusing, and almost succeeding several more times, while Temari sat to the side, giving pointers every couple of attempts, before the mid-afternoon heat became too much for both and they decided to call it a day.

"How can you stand this?" Naruto huffed as the two walked down the sandy streets toward Temari's home. He had rolled up his pants legs to above his knees and removed his orange jacket halfway through his training, which he was now using to wipe away the sweat that was pouring down his face. "Geez, I'm sweating like a pig and you still look fresh as a daisy. What gives?"

"Your thick clothes are absorbing and trapping all the heat that touches it, while mine is specially designed to disperse heat and keep the wearer cool in hot conditions. Desert-wear, almost everyone in Suna wears it."

"That's it?" he asked.

"Nope, move closer to me."

"Huh?" The command surprised him, as he noticed the two were already walking fairly close to one another.

"Don't get any dumb thoughts," she warned. She held up her hand. "Here, touch my hand."

Naruto stared at the offered appendage. And _she doesn't want me getting weird thoughts_.

Hesitantly, he reached out and put his hand on hers, making his eyes widen in surprise. "What the heck?"

Temari grinned, taking her hand back. "It's another wind jutsu that I created. It creates a tiny breeze that travels along my skin to keep me cool. It's tricky, but it sure as hell beats having to take half a dozen cold bathes each day like some people here do."

Naruto stared at the girl, admiration and awe visible on his face. A girl her age could already create her own unique jutsus. Well, he'd created a few of his own, too. But hers were certainly a lot more...sensible, he supposed. It was something ingenious to come up with for life in the desert, but now that he'd heard of it, he couldn't believe that no one had ever thought of something like it before.

But then admiration turned into annoyance. "Why didn't you teach me that jutsu first?" he demanded. "Your teammate is dehydrating right next to you and you're keeping jutsus like that a secret?"

Temari crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Well aren't you the ungrateful one? Here I am taking time out of my own life to give you personal lessons, something I haven't even done before for my own brothers, and yet all you can do is complain about it. Why do I even bother?"

Naruto, rather predictably, panicked. "No no, it's not that I'm ungrateful or anything, cuz I am, really! I mean, you doing this is one of the few nice things that anyone's ever done for me. It's just that...well, I thought-"

Temari hid a smirk, letting the boy ramble on for a few more seconds before cutting in. "Really? Because I was planning on teaching you this jutsu once you got a little more familiar with wind jutsus first, but now I don't really think you deserve it."

"No wait, I deserve it! I-I mean, I promise not to complain anymore! Just teach it to me, please?"

"...Well...maybe I could still teach you, but I am still taking time out of my personal life to do this, you know? So what exactly are you going to do to pay me back for it, hmm?"

Naruto brightened slightly. "Oh, well I uh...I could...err..." Then he found his problem. What exactly could he do to repay her? He didn't have many hobbies or things that he excelled at that didn't involve ninja business in some way. Most of his life before Suna mainly involved pranks, ramen, training, and... not a whole lot else, honestly.

Temari couldn't keep the grin away anymore as she watched the poor boy practically pull his hair out in distress. She wondered how much longer she could string him along before he got wise to her game.

Probably at least for the rest of the day, would have been her guess. Too bad she had other things that needed to be done that day, too.

"Naruto," she said, swatting the boy lightly on the head to bring him back to reality. "What do you say we work out your payments later? I'm getting hungry here."

Naruto blinked at her, letting his incoherent thoughts slip away at her decision. "Okay, sure."

For about a minute more, the two walked in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. But as they approached the house, Naruto remembered something that he'd been meaning to do for the past few days.

"Say, Temari-neechan?"

"Hmm, what is it?" she asked absently.

"Do you know what a 'Shukaku' is?"

Naruto watched worriedly as all the color instantly drained from the kunoichi's face.

"Where did you hear about that?" she asked quietly.

Now it was his turn to pale. He hadn't thought that she would ask him that, and what was he supposed to tell her? That a demon fox who lived inside his body mentioned it in passing during a dream he'd had?

Not bloody likely.

He took a stab in the dark. "Err...I heard a few villagers mentioning it yesterday."

Temari had no idea what to say. Of course he would hear things about Shukaku the longer he stayed in the village, but she didn't think it would have been this soon. Now what? Did she tell him or not? He was part of the team now, so he probably did deserve to know about Gaara's 'other self' for safety and necessity reasons. But on the other hand, having him know could very easily complicate things between everyone.

"I think...I think it would be best to ask Baki-sensei about that," she concluded. "I'm sure he'd be able to tell you more than I could."

Naruto scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess. That's what I'd planned on doing. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said dismissively. "Just, um...don't mention it to anyone else until you talk to him, alright?"

Naruto nodded mutely, and the two continued onward in a very awkward silence. At least he now knew that the Kyubi hadn't just been screwing with him. Judging by the way Temari reacted, this Shukaku thing was definitely bad news, and he still had the sneaking feeling that it somehow involved Gaara. Now he really, really needed to begin figuring these things out.

----------

The rest of the day passed by without incident, though the hours seemed to speed by far too quickly for Naruto's liking. Baki had stayed out for the entire time that Naruto had been at the house, so he'd never gotten the opportunity to question him about Shukaku or Gaara. But that's where another problem sprang up.

Tonight was the night where he was finally going to have to meet up with Gaara for his... jutsu training. It had been three days since Gaara had brought it up, and even though he still wasn't feeling up to doing it, he had the sneaking suspicion that Gaara was growing impatient. Watching the redhead crush a sand replica of Naruto that morning during practice was a fairly good signal that his time was running out.

Nightfall came, and with Baki still gone to who knew where, Naruto left the house and made his way to his teammate's home.

A lot of bad thoughts began filling his head as he walked. From all the things he already knew about Gaara, the boy could very well kill him the minute he showed up for delaying the training for so many days. Or there was the chance that Gaara wouldn't be able to master the technique and would kill him out of irritation. And then there was still the matter of one of the others finding out about what they were doing. Temari would rip him a new one, Baki would berate him and probably demote him for ignoring his orders, and Kankuro, being the royal jerk that he was, would join in just for the fun of it.

Or, maybe they would all find the act of Gaara learning Sexy no Jutsu to be funny as hell and laugh the whole thing off?

Again: Not bloody likely.

Before he knew it, he was standing outside the mansion-sized house. Breathing a heavy sigh, he jumped up to the roof. He had barely touched down before his body was bound in a cocoon of sand and slammed against the wall of the stairway.

"Wa-wait Gaara, it's just me!" he cried earnestly.

"I know," came a cold reply. The boy stood up from his position at the ledge of the roof, then turned and walked over to stand before the trapped blond. "You've been avoiding me."

A drop of sweat formed on Naruto's brow. "No way, pal. It's not that I've avoided you on purpose or anything, I've just...you know, been busy and stuff. But hey, I'm here now, right, so how about that training?"

Gaara's glare seemed to lessen slightly, or it might have been a trick of the moonlight, he wasn't sure. But finally, the sands receded back into the gourd and Naruto fell to the ground.

Gaara silently positioned himself on the ground in front of him. "Teach," he commanded.

Naruto gingerly rubbed his sore lower back, holding his tongue so as not to tell Gaara that the real thing he needed taught was people skills.

"Okay, well...I guess the first thing you should know about Sexy no Jutsu is that it doesn't work on everybody."

Gaara's hard stare was Naruto's only indication that he should continue.

"You see, um...it's meant to only work on guys. Although...I suppose it could work on certain girls, maybe...and then there are some guys who are able to resist it, so-"

"Why was I able to resist it when Baki and Kankuro were not?" Gaara questioned.

"Do you like girls?"

"...I don't like anyone."

Naruto flinched at the venomous statement. "That's probably why, then. And it won't work on me, either, since I created it. I know better than to let it get to me."

He could have been wrong, but Gaara almost looked disappointed at hearing that.

"Tell me how it works," Gaara commanded.

"Err, right. You do know how to Henge, right?"

The Sand nin gave a small nod.

"Okay, well basically, all you have to do is transform yourself into the image of a sexy girl. The less amount of clothes she's wearing, the better the result," he explained.

"...Sexy?"

Naruto faltered. He didn't even know what 'sexy' meant?

"Um...well you know...sexy is just...it's the way a girl's body looks that makes you attracted to-" He paused when he remembered that Gaara didn't seem to find girls attractive. "Okay, forget that. Sexy is like, women that are thin, and curvy, with large, er...well they have to have...um..."

Staring into the completely neutral face of Gaara while trying to describe this made Naruto feel more foolish and perverted than ever before in his life. Then an idea hit him.

"Wait here a minute," he said. "I'll be right back." And with that, he jumped off the roof.

Gaara waited, unmoving, for about three minutes when Naruto returned with something in his hand.

"Here, look at this," he told him, handing over the rolled up magazine.

Gaara accepted the item in curiosity. Slowly, he began flipping through the pages, growing in understanding as he did.

"So this is the image that I need to imitate," he muttered more to himself than to Naruto.

"Yep, just get your henge to look as close to them as you can, and you should have no problems with it.

Gaara turned the magazine sideways. "Do women often do such things to each other while bathing?"

"Skip that part, skip that part!" Naruto prompted urgently.

Gaara dropped the magazine. "I will try now."

Naruto gulped. "Uh...good luck?"

Gaara ignored him, and formed the proper hand seal. With a puff of smoke, he vanished from sight. Naruto watched on expectantly, waiting to see what would turn out. His life could very well hang in the balance of the outcome.

In no time the smoke had mostly cleared, leaving Naruto standing face to face with...

Temari.

Or at least, a redheaded Temari with little black rings around her eyes; But the rest of the face and, if he had to venture a guess, that body definitely belonged to his female teammate.

Faced with this new revelation, the boy found no other alternative but to faint.

When consciousness returned, the blond found himself staring up at a back-to-normal Gaara.

"I thought you told me this technique didn't affect you," he said, though he didn't look all that upset about it.

Naruto sat up and shook the cobwebs from his head, thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't bled nearly as much as he thought he would have. "That's only because I wasn't expecting you to turn into your sister!" he said in annoyance.

"You told me to transform into a woman," Gaara stated evenly. "Temari is a woman."

"That's not..." he stammered. He didn't think he'd ever be able to look as Temari again without blushing at this point. "You're not supposed to turn into someone you actually know! That just makes it weird! And could also get me killed in a heartbeat," he said, whispering the last part.

"...Then what is the right way to do it?" he asked, starting to sound annoyed.

"Just do like I do," he told him, hoping to calm him before he lost his temper. "I just tried to imagine what I might look like as a girl and transformed into that."

Gaara remained silent for a while before reaching down and picking up the discarded magazine. "Where did you get this?"

A guilty look crossed the blond's face.

----------

"Damnit, where is it?" Kankuro cried.

The puppet ninja was standing in the middle of his room, which looked like a hurricane had passed through it. He frantically pulled the mattress off his bed, then ran to the back of his closet, throwing things out without a care.

"I know it was here last night! Damn, where did I put it?"

"Lose something?" a voice from the doorway inquired.

"NO! GO AWAY!"

Temari frowned, then turned and walked away. "Whatever."

Kankuro continued searching when a dreadful thought hit him: Temari. What if she had already found it and was toying with him? Oh God, she'd never let him live that down! It HAD to be here!

----------

"I just...found it lying around somewhere," Naruto answered, trying to look innocent.

Gaara glanced at him, then back to the magazine. "I will keep it for further study until I perfect this technique then."

Naruto snorted. Coming from anyone other than Gaara, that comment would have sounded incredibly perverted. "Well, good luck with that, then-"

"You will meet me here again tomorrow."

"Huh? But I've already shown you-"

"Until I have perfected the technique, you will continue to assist me, or I will kill you."

Naruto shivered. "Well, when you put it that way..."

And without another word, Gaara turned away and positioned himself back on the ledge of the roof, gazing up at the moon. Naruto stared at him for a few more seconds, then he jumped from the roof and began making his way back to Baki's.

Back on the roof, Gaara suddenly clutched his head, letting a deep snarl escape his throat.

"Yes, I agree," he mumbled, squinting his eyes open, and gazing down at the vanishing Naruto's form. "There is something different about him. What do we do about it?"

A moment of silence passed as the boy seemed to be waiting for something. Then he grinned.

"Yes, perhaps you're right."

----------

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto couldn't quite tell where he was, as the surroundings seemed a bit blurred. What he could tell was that Temari was standing before him, smiling at him in a very suggestive manner. He opened his mouth to answer but couldn't form any proper words.

"Naruto-kun."

The next thing he knew the blonde girl before him was stark naked, as the light purple outfit she normally wore simply dissolved off of her body. In his shock, he tried to turn his head away before he suffered another nosebleed, but found that no matter where he looked, she was still right in front of him.

"Naruto."

Now there were hundreds of them. One right after the other, still looking at him expectantly, and he couldn't even find the proper strength to squeeze his eyes shut to block out the images.

"Naruto."

Now they all had red hair, and the lingering smoke around thier bodies had changed to sand.

"Uzumaki."

One by one, each redheaded Temari poofed into a Gaara, the seductive smile being replaced by a sinister glower. The sand swirling around them grew fangs and started twisting about like giant snakes.

Then he saw that all the Gaara's were still naked.

"UZUMAKI!"

And then, suddenly, he was sitting upright in his bed. His heart raced, his body soaked with sweat, and his mind was clouded with images that had haunted his mind just seconds before.

"Kami," he mumbled, dragging a hand through his matted hair. "I think I've created a monster. I'd take my dreamtime conversations with Kyubi any day if it meant no more dreams like that one."

Then his door blew off its hinges, and standing in the doorway was a ticked off Baki. Naruto made the assumption that he'd been waiting there for a while.

"You sleep like a log, Uzumaki, but naptime is over now," he growled. "The Kazekage has summoned us. We have a mission."

"Mission? Really?" Suddenly the dream was a forgotten memory.

"Yes, now get up and let's go! Temari is already waiting for us there," he said impatiently.

"What about Gaara and Kankuro?"

"...They won't be coming. Now stop asking questions!"

"Yes sir!" Naruto jumped out of bed and began dressing. Then he stopped as something dawned on him. He gave Baki a strange look. "Hey sensei?"

"What, Naruto?"

"Did you... call me Naruto-kun a minute ago?"

The two stared at each other in a painful silence.

"I'm going to forget you ever asked me that question, Uzumaki. And I'll thank you now to never suggest it again."

"Err...right."

----------

How he hated the desert. The blistering temperature was absolute torture on his skin. Even with his entire body covered with the long grey cloak and sunhat he was still very uncomfortable. He wouldn't even be here now if it weren't so important to his cause, though he would be making it a priority to never come back again.

Well, not unless he felt the urge to destroy the place, at any rate.

He came into view of the large village and approached the front gates, where he was quickly stopped by two jounin guards.

"State your name and business here," one of them demanded.

Rather than answer, he simply lifted his hat, giving the men a good look at his face.

The guard who had spoken gulped in surprise. "Oh it's you, sir! Please forgive my rudeness. Kazekage-sama is awaiting you. Please, go ahead."

The man smirked, lowered his hat and continued on into the village.

----------

"Would you stop fidgeting around, Naruto?" Temari whispered to the boy.

"I can't help it," he whispered back giddily. "This will be my first real mission as a ninja and I'm excited!"

The Kazekage cleared his throat loudly, causing them both to snap to attention.

"Are you through?" he asked darkly. They both nodded stiffly. "Good."

"Now then, we received a letter from the Land of Rain this morning. It appears that they have been having several conflicts with the Grass Country in the past few months, and currently sit on the verge of an all-out war. Specifics have not been given to us yet, but both sides are apparently looking to solve their feud without the need for further violence. However, every time a meeting is held to discuss peace, more problems arise between them. So the leader of Amegakure has asked that we send a few reinforcements to aid them in the event that a battle does break out."

Naruto's excitement continued to grow. This sounded like it was turning into a really important mission for them. He glanced at Temari to see how she was reacting, but her gaze was still fixed straight ahead at her father. Catching the hint, Naruto turned back as well.

"Baki, you and your team will go to Amegakure as backup. Follow whatever orders their leader might give, but remember: You are not to instigate an attack against anyone from Kusagakure unless it has become clear that fighting is unavoidable. This is essentially meant to be a peace mission. Is that clear?"

All three nodded.

"Good, in that case, Uzumaki and Temari, you are both dismissed. Baki, I need to speak with you for a minute."

Baki bowed his head to the Kazekage, then turned to the kids. "You two go inform Gaara and Kankuro of our mission. I will meet up with you all at the village gates in one hour."

"Right!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

"Yes sensei," Temari replied with a small salute to both Baki and her father.

As the two genin left the room, Baki returned his attention to the Kazekage. "Sir?"

"I'm expecting an important guest in just a moment, but before he gets here, there's something else that we need to discuss..."

----------

"This is gonna be so cool!"

"Please tell me you won't be this hyper all the way to Ame."

"Aren't you excited about it too, Temari-neechan?" Naruto questioned.

"Not really," she admitted. "I've done this sort of thing before, and it wasn't that big-"

"Well I haven't," he interrupted gleefully. "My first real mission and it involves stopping a war! And all this time I was afraid that my first mission was gonna be something lame like catching somebody's runaway cat or weeding someone's garden or something like that."

Temari grimaced, remembering her own first mission, which sadly enough, involved gathering scented herbs for an elderly woman who liked using them in baths. That was a dark time of her career, for certain.

"So what's Amegakure like, Temari-neechan?" Naruto asked, bringing her back from her memories.

"I've only been there once before, but from what I've seen the place is made up mostly of rainforest or jungle-like areas. As you might guess, it gets more annual rainfall than anywhere else in the world, and even when it's not raining it's still ridiculously cool and humid. In short, almost an exact opposite of Suna."

Naruto was about to comment on that as they rounded a corner, but was stopped when he nearly bumped into someone. He managed to stop himself just in time, but as he looked up to apologize to the person, their eyes met and his words caught in his throat.

He studied the man before him, who was already studying him in return. His face was a ghostly pale, as though his skin hadn't been touched by sunlight in years. Underneath his wide-brimmed hat, he caught a glimpse of long, black hair. His thin mouth was twisted into a curious smirk as he looked Naruto up and down. His eyes were narrow slits of bright yellow, with a hint of danger hidden within them.

The man resembled a large snake, Naruto decided. And just from looking at him, he also decided that he wasn't someone that he would want to associate himself with.

The man's eyes swept over Naruto once more in fascination. Then with a small tip of his hat, he simply walked right past him. "Please excuse me," he muttered lightly. "But I'm in a bit of a hurry."

As he walked out of sight, Naruto shivered and turned to Temari. "What kind of creepy guy was that?"

"That's not somebody that you want to get yourself involved with, Naruto," she assured him. "He's been sending a lot of letters and envoys to father for months now, but I've never found out what they were about. All I can guess is that he's hoping for some sort of alliance with him."

"So who is he?" Naruto asked.

"The only things I know for sure are that he's the leader of Otogakure, from the Land of Rice Fields. His name is..."

----------

"Ah, Orochimaru," the Kazekage greeted. "A pleasure to finally meet you again after such a long time."

"Believe me, Kazekage-sama, the pleasure is all mine," Orochimaru replied, finally removing his hat.

The Kazekage took a moment to wave Baki away, who bowed and left the room without another word.

"I trust that your trip here went well."

"As well as can be expected," the pale man answered. "Though I do admit that this sandy wasteland atmosphere isn't exactly pleasant for me. Perhaps next time we can arrange for you to meet with me in Oto. I think you would enjoy it."

"Perhaps," he answered curtly. "But I know you didn't travel all this way out here just to discuss the weather."

Orochimaru grinned. "Before we get down to business, a question, if I may?"

Kazekage eyed him cautiously. "Go ahead."

"I happened upon a young boy on my way here; a blond boy in an orange suit with whisker marks on his face. Might I trouble you for his name?"

The Yondaime kept his face emotionless, not knowing if the Snake Sannin was up to something or not.

"Uzumaki Naruto: A newly ranked genin of mediocre talent. Why do you ask?"

Orochimaru's grin widened as he shook his head. "No reason, sir. Just being my nosy self. Now then, what say we get down to the real matter at hand?"

----------

Meanwhile, in Konoha...

"...And that is the situation," Sarutobi said, addressing the four people standing before his desk. "The Land of Grass has sent a request for extra manpower from us in the event of an upcoming battle with Amegakure. You four will travel to Kusagakure and lend support to their cause, but they have made it clear that they would like this conflict solved without having to resort to violence if at all possible. Is that clear?"

The jounin of the group stepped forward and struck what he believed to be a manly pose. "Yosh! This mission is in good hands, Hokage-sama! My young, lovable students and I shall show the shinobi and Kusa and Ame the burning fires of our youth! They will see the errors of their ways and be sent down the path to peace and prosperity!"

One of the boys standing behind him, looking like an exact copy of the taller man, flexed his arm. "Gai-sensei is so cool!" he declared. "Watching him in action fills my spirit with the flames of Springtime and my body with the passions of youth!"

"Lee!" Gai cried.

"Gai-sensei!"

The two men fell into a tight embrace. One could almost hear the crashing waves beneath the setting sun in the background. The girl and second boy who were watching them turned their heads away in embarrassment.

"Yosha!" Gai bellowed loudly after releasing Lee. "Let us be off, my students! If we leave now, we can make Kusa in exactly three days!"

"No, Gai-sensei," Lee objected. "I believe we can get there in only two days!"

"Don't say stupid things like that!" the girl shouted after the two as they ran from the room. "You'll only encourage him!"

The remaining boy watched his team exit the room, then sighed and calmly followed suit.

Sarutobi smiled lightly as the team left. It wasn't often that they recieved a request for help from Kusa, but he was certain that Gai and his students could handle the situation. After all, in a peace treaty like this with Kusa and Ame, what could really go wrong for them?

End Chapter 7

----------

I sincerely hope the wait was worth it. Thanks again to all of my readers and all my reviewers. Enjoy your holidays. Now I'm going back to my Nintendo Wii for a few days.

LL


	9. Chapter 8

Okay, no time for long explanations this time. Chapters a bit rushed, but I won't have a computer for the next few days, so I cut the chapter short and here's what I have so far. Thanks to everyone who read and everyone who reviewed, especially to the anonymous ones who I couldn't respond to personally. I hope everyone enjoys.

The Pride of Suna

by Legendary Legacy

A Naruto Fanfic

Standard Disclaimer still applies.

Note: As far as I know, very, very little about Ame and Kusa has been shown in the series yet, therefore I've had to create OCs to represent the leaders and other main people from the two countries. If I'm wrong, and the leaders of the countries have already been shown before, you'll just have to overlook it in this story. This is where the AU part of the story could come in, I guess.

----------

Chapter 8

The Kazekage flipped idly through a few files that littered his desk, outwardly appearing to be engrossed in his work. On the inside, however, his mind was on anything but paperwork.

His thoughts kept returning to the conversation he'd had the day before with Orochimaru and the plan that he had proposed to him. The Kazekage, of course, was never a very trusting person, no matter what the circumstance, and every fiber of his being warned him that Orochimaru was NOT someone to be trusted, ever.

Imagine: Wanting to use the upcoming Chunin Exams as a cover-up for his plot to destroy Konohagakure. Did he not realize that Suna was currently bound with them through a treaty? What would the rest of the shinobi world think of Suna if they were to break that treaty in such a way? They'd never be trusted by anyone else again.

But, on the other hand, everything that the legendary sannin had said seemed to make so much sense. Suna was currently struggling because that imbecile daimyo refused to use Suna's own shinobi for missions. He continued to push jobs off on Konoha as a way of saving himself money. But if Konoha were gone, it would leave the daimyo with no other alternative than to rely on him. Besides, even with this treaty of theirs, it wasn't as though Konoha had ever done anything of benefit for Suna anyway.

And, with Konoha out of the way and Orochimaru and Otogakure by his side, Suna would become the most dominant village in all the lands. No other country would dare stand before them with the sort of manpower that they both possessed.

He sighed, running his hand through his short hair. Orochimaru hadn't been very specific about how this invasion was going to work, except for the few hints concerning Gaara. He frowned, Gaara was nigh unstoppable, but he didn't believe that his son and a few extra soldiers could topple the greatest shinobi village in the land so easily. There had to be something more to the Snake Sannin's plan. But what?

A sharp knock on his office door brought his attention back to the present.

"What is it?" he barked.

"Lord Kazekage-sama," a voice answered from behind the closed door. "A messenger from Konoha has just arrived, requesting an audience with you."

His eyes narrowed. He wasn't one to believe in such absurd things as karma or twisted irony, but the timing was still a little too convenient for his liking.

"Show him in," he said after a brief pause.

The doors opened and a man in his twenties walked in. Judging by the sour look on his face, it was apparent that the man felt he was simply wasting his time in being here. He stiffly lowered himself into a respectable bow before speaking.

"Forgive the unannounced intrusion, Kazekage-sama," he greeted. "But I have come to you today by the will of Lord Hokage-sama."

"I assumed as much," the Kazekage replied curtly, not in any mood to carry out formalities at the moment. "And what is so urgent that Sarutobi-dono would seek out my assistance."

The man sighed, as though the mere effort of forming words was becoming a burden on him. "Several days ago, a young boy ran off from our village: One, Uzumaki Naruto. The boy has been a great nuisance upon our village for many years now, has no family and is not a qualified shinobi, but Hokage-sama has taken to looking after the boy for some time. I have been sent here today to ask if you might have any information on the boy or possibly on his whereabouts."

The Yondaime listened, thankful for his ability to remain completely emotionless at all times, for this was something that he hadn't expected in the slightest. "It seems a rather strange request to seek out help from neighboring lands to help search so thoroughly for a person whom you claim is nothing but a nuisance," he commented.

"Under normal circumstances, you would be all too correct, sir," the shinobi assured him. "But this boy holds a certain sentimental value to our Hokage-sama. Furthermore, the night that he escaped, he attempted to steal a very valuable object from the village. He is to stand trial for theft and possible treason against Konoha if he is found."

The Kazekage hid a smirk. Of course the man before him was lying, or at the least, not giving the full truth. The way he spoke made it sound like he'd been reading from a script, and as he already knew from Naruto himself, everyone in Konoha knew about the existence of the Kyubi inside him. No wonder the ninja looked like he didn't want to be here. He'd never attempt to bring the demon child back to their village unless it was a direct order from the Hokage. Though that did bring up some confusion, as he had believed that no one, much less the Sandaime himself, had any feelings for the boy back in Konoha.

He held in a small sigh, knowing that there was no other choice that he could make at the moment.

"Forgive me," he responded. "But I know of no one by the name Uzumaki Naruto."

The man actually grinned in relief at hearing that statement, and stood up to leave. "I see. In that case, I apologize for wasting your time, Kazekage-sama. I will take my leave now."

The Kazekage almost laughed as the man exited the room. He certainly did detest the poor boy. Hadn't even bothered to give a description of what Naruto looked like, and then to give up so easily. If everyone in Konoha felt that way about Naruto, it was no wonder why he left.

The fact that his own son suffered the same way in his own village escaped him.

The smirk reappeared on his face. Well it didn't matter now. If they were foolish enough to let something so potentially useful slip through their fingers, then they didn't deserve to have him back. This also gave him all new possibilities for the approaching invasion.

Assuming the boy didn't mind a chance at a little payback, that is.

----------

In the less than two weeks time that Naruto had been living in Suna, he'd discovered something very interesting about desert-life. No matter how damn hot the place got during the day, it could still get really damn cold at night. Still, the slight shivers that occurred every few minutes were a welcome change from suffering from dehydration every day like he had been.

The new climate-oriented clothes helped, too. While he was preparing to leave, he'd remembered Temari talking about the special clothing designed for desert travel, and decided to find some for himself. But as luck or fate would have it, all the outfits at the store were expensive, and he'd barely had enough for one of them.

Remarkably, he'd happened to find an outfit that looked almost exactly like his normal orange suit, but it turned out to be a size too small for him. He'd finally ended up with a set of light-blue pants, blue and orange shirt and new black mesh undershirt. It really was amazing how light and soft the outfit felt. If only it had a little more orange to it.

The blond was sitting out on a large dune, giving him quite a view of the landscape. Unfortunately, other than his team's own little campground, there wasn't anything to look at other than sand, which grew boring after the first eleven or twelve seconds. Laying his head back into his folded hands, he changed his attention to the sky. Maybe counting stars would be a little more interesting than counting grains of sand.

Maybe.

There was another nice thing about the wide open desert at night. Unlike Konoha, there was absolutely nothing to distract from or block out the night sky. It really was quite a sight to behold.

"Still awake, huh?"

Craning his neck around, Naruto spotted Temari kneeling down about a foot behind him.

"Nah," he answered with a wide grin. "I'm just too excited."

Temari chuckled, shifting her body over until she was sitting beside him rather than behind him. "I guess nobody on the team plans to sleep tonight."

Naruto slowly glanced around the camp. Gaara stood several meters away, staring out into the desert like an unmoving statue. Kankuro's silhouette could be seen through the thin lining of his tent, fiddling with Karasu. And sitting next to the small fire that had been built was Baki, staring into the dancing flames and lost deep in thought.

"Baki-sensei's been kind of distant since we left, hasn't he?" Naruto mentioned.

Temari nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's barely said a word since we left Suna. Usually he'd be going over missions briefing or something..."

"Maybe he's just nervous?" Naruto guessed. "I'll bet it's not every day that you get a mission to stop a war like this."

Temari shrugged. She knew that wasn't the reason, Baki had been doing this sort of thing for years. But since she didn't know the reason, she didn't care too much.

"We'll be in Ame tomorrow, won't we?" Naruto asked.

Temari nodded. "Yep. Getting anxious?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "My first real chance to show what I can do. I wonder if I'll get to fight someone."

"You'd better hope not, this is a peace mission, remember?"

"I know," he pouted. "But I really wanna show off my new techniques that you've been teaching me."

Temari rolled her eyes. "You know, most shinobi don't go around 'showing off' their techniques to others."

"Well I'm not most shinobi," Naruto replied proudly.

Temari had to grin at that. "That, you certainly aren't."

Naruto chuckled lightly and a peaceful silence took over. He turned his attention back up to the night sky, and Temari lowered herself to her back in order to do the same.

Neither blond spoke, as neither felt the need to. For Naruto, just knowing that there was someone who didn't mind being around him like this was enough to bring him peace of mind.

For Temari, spending time in silence with someone was a norm, as the only people she was ever really around were her brothers and sensei. Gaara never spoke unless he was prompted by someone (sometimes not even then), and Baki was the same unless he was giving instructions. Kankuro never had anything to say to her unless it was something snide or sarcastic, which would lead to a short squabble that never lasted very long anyway.

But it didn't really matter to her. Temari was always one to judge real comfort in silence. It was one thing to be able to carry on a conversation with someone without feeling uncomfortable, but when you were able to sit in silence with someone without it making you feel awkward and in need of finding anything to talk about, that signified true peace with whoever you were with.

She turned her head toward Naruto, finding him looking as peaceful as she was feeling. She smiled. For some reason, whether it had been the glow of the moonlight, or those strange feline marks on his cheeks, or just the fact that he was finally starting to lose some of the barely hidden pain that had drifted across his face all too often since she first met him, Temari was beginning to notice that Naruto was...not all that bad looking. He still had a bit of a softer, baby face, but he was definitely far from ugly.

_God, I'm not that lonely, am I?_ she wondered. _He's two years younger than me, after all_.

That's what she told herself, but even with that, it was easy to see that the boy's past had done a real job of forcing him to grow up faster than he should have. Just like Gaara. The same face that depicted an immature, loudmouthed child could also look a little bit too much the way Gaara used to look before he had killed off all his emotions. She knew that Naruto had been hated back in Konoha for reasons unknown, but unlike Gaara, Naruto was still at a point where he still seemed to care about other people and what they thought about him. That was what kept him looking for acceptance in people rather than closing himself off from everyone else like her brother.

Naruto chose that moment to turn his head slightly, and noticed Temari staring at him out of the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Realizing that she'd been caught staring, even if it was unintentionally, Temari turned her face away before the blush became visible on her face. "Oh, I just...um, nothing," she mumbled evasively.

"Oh," he said casually. "I thought maybe I had something on my face." He took a closer look at the girl. "Hey, are you okay? Your face looks red; you don't have heatstroke or something, do you?"

Temari's blush worsened as she watched Naruto reach out to touch her forehead. Quickly she grabbed his hand with her own, trying to keep her distance as nonchalantly as possible. "Of course not! I live in the desert, I never get heatstroke."

"Okay, that's good then," he said, but his frown deepened. "But you do look a little red, you sure you're-"

"Yes, I'm fine! Really!" She was getting irritated at not being able to reign in her sudden burst of emotion. When the hell did she become so weak-willed? And why the hell did Naruto have to keep looking at her like that?

"Ne, Temari-neechan?"

"What?" she asked, still not able to look at his face.

"Can I have my hand back?"

Aghast, Temari looked down to see that she still had a very firm grip on the boy's hand. She dropped it like a venomous snake and immediately sprang to her feet. "Well, I'm off to bed now! We have a big day tomorrow so I suggest you do the same. Goodnight!"

"Good-" She was gone before he could even finish. "-night? ...Well, that was weird."

He wondered if he'd said something to upset her. But he really hadn't said anything before he noticed her looking at him. A lopsided grin appeared on his face; maybe she was staring at him because she thought he was attractive.

He chuckled bitterly. Yeah, that would be the day. As if a girl as smart, talented and beautiful as Temari would ever...

...Had he said beautiful?

Well...thinking about it now, sure she was pretty, and had one killer body-

"Ahh, damnit!" Naruto cursed as softly as possible and bopped himself over the head. "Now I'm thinking weird things about Temari-neechan. Stupid Gaara and his stupid jutsu!"

He gave a disheartened sigh. And besides, even if she was easily as pretty as any other girl he'd ever really known, Sakura included, and even if she was nice and smart and a really talented shinobi, it wasn't like he really even knew her that well. If there really was any sort of real attraction to her that hadn't been brought up by sort-of seeing her naked (even if it wasn't "her"), he knew that the only other reason for it was because she was the one and only girl his age that seemed to enjoy being around him and didn't treat him like a disease-infected rat. If any other girl ever acted that way around him besides Temari, he was certain he'd feel the exact same way about her, too.

And then, of course, the only reason that Temari didn't treat him like everyone else was...because she didn't know his secret yet. Baki and the Kazekage might have been the exceptions, but if Temari or either of the others learned that he had a blood-thirsty demon living inside him, well...

This was depressing. Slowly, he got to his feet and made his way back to his tent, hoping to lose his worries in the comfort of sleep. He just had to get his mind back on the mission and away from thoughts about Temari.

But sadly, it was near impossible to control your own dreams, and Naruto's night was spent with many visions of evil demon foxes and a young, blond kunoichi.

----------

The team was up and moving, much to both Naruto and Kankuro's chagrin, before the sun came up. They had been traveling for almost two days now and were nearing the edge of the desert, and Baki had informed them that if they made good time, they could be in Ame before sunrise. It turned out to be a rather difficult two hours for Temari. Being the only real morning person in the group, having to travel with a grumpy Naruto and Kankuro, a brooding Baki, and a normal Gaara certainly was trying on the nerves.

The desert was soon left behind and it wasn't long before a large forest came into view. As the sun began to rise over the horizon, the group began feeling a steady increase of raindrops. Naruto didn't really mind, though he quickly wished that he had brought an umbrella with him, because it only took about two minutes before he was soaked to the bone. He glanced at the others. Temari was using her giant fan as a substitute umbrella, Kankuro had pulled out a large rain hat over his black hood and kept his head bowed down.

_Probably didn't want his make-up to run_, Naruto surmised with a weak smirk.

Baki walked on unfazed, while Gaara formed a small roof of sand above him, though Naruto couldn't help but notice the small amount of strain on the red-heads face as he walked. Intrigued, he moved next to Temari.

"What's up with Gaara?" he whispered.

Temari glanced back nervously at her brother, but relaxed a bit in understanding. "Gaara doesn't like water. When his sand gets wet, it becomes harder for him to manipulate. He'll probably be grumpy for the rest of the day, so better give him his space."

"Gotcha," Naruto said with a nod.

They walked a few more steps when Temari became wary that Naruto was still walking extremely close to her; close enough that their arms began brushing together as they moved. She felt like it shouldn't have been such a big deal, but after the whole ordeal from the night before it was making her a bit flustered.

"Na-Naruto?" she said, mentally cursing herself for having the audacity to stutter. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that you...seem to be moving rather close to me, don't you think?"

Naruto blinked, then gave her a sheepish grin. "Oh, well it's just...it's dry under here. I didn't think you'd mind."

Temari turned stone-faced. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but now she just felt foolish for expecting whatever it was.

Temari did not like to feel foolish. Especially not two times in less than a day by the same person.

Giving the boy a small shove, she took a good amount of satisfaction in watching him slip on the wet ground and fall on his butt into a shallow puddle of muddy water. Springing back to his feet, Naruto glared at the kunoichi.

"What the heck was that for?" he demanded.

Temari just smirked and stuck her tongue out at him, then turned and walked on; satisfied that justice had been served.

Naruto's glare faded away. "Damn," he muttered. "Now my new clothes are muddy. At least the rain'll clean 'em, I guess."

He sighed, wondering if all women were as hard to figure out as Temari was.

God, he hoped not.

----------

Nine a.m. found Team Baki being welcomed into the modestly sized building of the lead shinobi of Ame.

And it had rained the entire time. Fortunately for Naruto, about twenty minutes of whining, pleading and bribing finally wore Temari down enough to allow him back under her fan provided he kept as much distance from her as possible, which gave him time to dry off before meeting with the Ame representatives.

As they entered the gates, they were greeted by a man and woman, both with long black hair and looking to be in their mid-twenties. They both held wide, black umbrellas over their heads and were dressed in dark gray cloaks over greenish-brown pants. A weapon was visible hanging from both of their waists; from the man's, a kodachi. From the woman's, a kusarigama.

"Greetings, I am Baki," the jounin began, speaking for the first time in hours. "My team and I have come in accordance with your leader to assist you and your conflict with Kusagakure."

"Well met," the woman said with a small bow. "My name is Yamane Kasumi. This," she gestured to the man next to her. "-is my brother, Kazuya. We welcome you to Ame and are very-"

"I trust that there will be more of you coming?" the man, Kazuya, interrupted.

The man's vicious tone caught the Suna nin by surprise.

"I'm afraid not," Baki told them. "We are all that have been sent."

Kazuya snorted in disgust. "How typical of one of the 'Big Five'. The strongest nations in the world, but when a lesser country asks for help with a war, they send in a jounin and four children." He didn't even acknowledge the glares he received from Naruto, Kankuro and Temari as he turned to walk away.

"Brother," Kasumi said sternly.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, taking a few steps forward. "So what if we're kids? Our team can handle anything!"

Kazuya paused in mid-step, then without warning flung his umbrella into the air.

"Yorozu-Hari no Ame!"

Naruto's eyes widened as the umbrella opened at the peak of its ascent, then began spewing out hundreds of long, thin needles in his direction. Thinking quicker than he'd ever thought before, he formed a set of seals and drove his fist into the ground.

"Tatsumaki Shouheki!"

A modest wind instantly kicked up around him. It wasn't nearly as fierce as the ones Temari had done, but it was enough to do the trick of keeping the needles away from him. His grin of triumph didn't last, however, as Kazuya blew right through the small twister and cracked him between the eyes with the sheath of his sword. He landed hard on his back at the feet of his teammates.

Kazuya snorted again, leveling a hard glare toward the fallen boy. "A word of advice, Greenhorn: Someone as weak as you shouldn't have such a big mouth. It could get you killed one day." With that, he turned and walked back into the village.

Naruto slowly sat up, rubbing his head and glaring daggers at the man's back. Temari knelt down next to him and examined his head.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered distractedly. The blow to his pride had hurt more than the blow to his head.

"Please excuse my brother's actions," Kasumi said with another bow. "I'm afraid he's been under a lot of stress in the last few weeks."

"Apologies are not necessary," Baki said calmly.

Kasumi nodded. "Then if you will please follow me, we will brief you on your mission at Lord Masamuri-sama's mansion."

The team began following the girl when Naruto felt Baki's hand on his shoulder.

"Uzumaki," he said softly. "I realize that this is your first mission, but you can not provoke the people who employ us."

"But he's the one who started it," Naruto said defensively. "You heard him; he doesn't think we're good enough!"

"That may be the case, but we are still here to do their bidding. As long as this mission continues, we are their tools, and they are allowed to treat and implement us as they see fit. That is the life of a shinobi."

Naruto silently frowned. He did remember something like that being said back in Iruka-sensei's classes, but he still didn't like it. "Yeah well...even if we are just tools to them, we're still humans, too. They should at least treat us like we are."

Baki shook his head and began walking to catch up with the others. "You've still got a lot to learn, Uzumaki."

----------

Kazuya was half way back to the mansion when he became aware of a slight stinging in his arm. He absently reached up with his left hand to rub it, but was surprised to pull his hand away sticky with blood. He pulled at his sleeve and revealed a shallow, two inch long cut just below his shoulder.

"What is this?" he wondered aloud. "That greenhorn's jutsu wasn't strong enough to cut me, and I know he never touched me himself. But I didn't see any of his teammates move either...who the hell wounded me then?"

He stared at the cut for a few more seconds before he noticed his sister and the Suna ninja approaching behind him. Scowling, he skulked onward without giving any of them a second glance.

----------

At the same time that the Suna team arrived in Ame, Team Gai had also arrived in Kusa.

"This place is beautiful," Tenten said in awe as they glanced around at all the tall grasses and brightly colored flowers that covered the grounds that they were walking by.

"Yosh! This land is most certainly enjoying its own springtime of youth, is it not, Gai-sensei?"

"Indeed it is, Lee! And what say you, Neji? Doesn't the brilliant sight make you want to shout out in joy of being alive?"

"Meh," the prodigy grunted disinterestedly.

The group made their way through the lively village until they came upon the manor of the village leader. It wasn't anything compared in size to the Hokage's tower, but it was still the largest building in the village. At the entrance, they were met by an elderly man dressed in thick grey robes and supporting himself on a long oak walking stick.

"Welcome friends, welcome!" he greeted cheerfully. "So you are the lot who have come to assist us, are you?"

"Yes," Gai stated. "My youthful students and I have come to bring peace back to the lands of Kusa and Ame!"

"Wonderful! Takara-sama will be most pleased, I'm sure. I am Halek, minister and advisor to Takara-sama. If you would follow me, I will take you to him."

He led them into the manor, where they were greeted by a portly, balding man in regal purple robes. Halek moved next to the man and slowly crouched down into a sitting position. "Gentlemen, and lady, I present to you the daimyo of Kusagakure, Shigata Takara. Takara-sama, these are the shinobi of Konoha that you requested."

The daimyo gave a deep belly-laugh. "Excellent, I've been anxiously awaiting your arrival since yesterday. I felt for sure that you wouldn't make it here in time, but it seems I've worried for nothing, doesn't it?" He laughed loudly again. "Please my guests, make yourselves comfortable. I would love to offer up a banquet for all of you, but I'm afraid our time is quite limited, so we really must get down to business. Perhaps something to drink, though?"

Not waiting for a response, he clapped his hands loudly. "Mina-chan, some refreshment for our guests!"

"Yes sir!" a voice called back from another room.

"Such a good girl, she is," he said lovingly. "Now then, have a seat and we can begin."

"He's a lively one, isn't he?" Tenten muttered under her breath.

"He is filled with the passion of youth," Lee agreed.

"Right then," the large man said. He stopped and frowned when he saw that Neji had remained standing while everyone else had sat. "Something wrong, boy?"

Neji crossed his arms and gave the Kusa men an accusing glare. "Sorry sir, I just find it difficult to relax when there are so many armed men hiding in the same room as I."

Takara's eyes widened, as did Halek's. The daimyo chuckled lightly. "You're quite the observant one, aren't you, sonny? Well, if you already know they're here, I suppose they might as well come out and say 'hi'."

Two shinobi instantly fell from the corners of the ceiling, while three more moved out from behind the large pillars next to Takara. All of them gripped kunai in their hands and began to encircle the Konoha team.

Tenten and Lee jumped to their feet. "Wow, betrayed before we even get started," the kunoichi said duly. "That's a first."

"Attack!" Takara shouted.

The five shinobi did just that. The first didn't even get an opportunity to strike before being sent into the far-end wall by a fierce kick from Lee. The second one to attack the spandex-clad boy managed to swing his weapon twice before finding himself planted head-first into the ceiling courtesy of an uppercut.

At the same time, Neji was deftly avoiding the wild swings and stabs from two other attackers, before sending a chakra-enhanced palm thrust into one of their chests, and then into the others, leaving them both groaning in pain on the floor.

The final attacker targeted Tenten, who parried every strike he threw at her. The man reared back for an full-powered stab, and ended up with nothing but air as the girl flipped up and behind him, giving him a hard kick to the back. As he stumbled to the floor, she grabbed a handful of her own kunai and, with a flick of her wrists, pinned him to the ground.

The entire exchange took exactly eight seconds.

Gai beamed proudly at his team's display of skill. _As expected of my youthful children._

Takara and Halek looked around at their fallen soldiers in shock. But as the three genin turned their attention back to them, their anger was dissolved as Takara broke into another fit of bellowous laughter.

"Brilliant!" he shouted happily. "Splendid! Supurb! I knew that calling on Konoha for help was the best choice!"

"Ano...?" Tenten said, scratching the side of her head in puzzlement.

"Please forgive me, my friends," Halek spoke. "But that was just to test your abilities. When I saw how young you three were, I thought the Hokage had gone mad, sending a group of hatchlings on a mission to prevent a war. But you've all shown that you're very capable of assisting our cause. Of course, those men that you fought were only genin, like yourselves, but I didn't expect them to fall so quickly. It seems their instructors are going to have to work them harder if they hope to succeed in the chunin exams. I hope there are no ill feelings for the trickery?"

The three genin looked uncertain. They glanced at Gai, to see what he was thinking. The jounin sat lost in thought for a few seconds, then flashed them his patented 'Nice-Guy Pose'. That was enough for Lee.

"If Gai-sensei still trusts them, then I shall trust them as well!"

Neither Tenten nor Neji were half as convinced, but arguing at this point wouldn't help anything, so they decided to go along with their teammates. Neji did, however, keep his Byakugan activated.

----------

"Allow us to explain the situation that we're now facing," Kasumi began once everyone had settled into the room. Except for Kazuya, the others were all seated at a small table in the center of the medium-sized coucil room. The Ame nin chose instead to stand off in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall and not really looking at anyone.

"'Scuse me," Kankuro raised his hand. "Shouldn't someone else be here for this?"

The Ame siblings glanced at each other, but Kazuya seemed to understand first. "Masamuri-sama."

Kasumi nodded in affirmation. "Masamuri-sama is incapacitated at the moment. The two of us have been assigned to brief you of your mission in his stead."

That seemed to satisfy Kankuro, and he sat back and made himself comfortable.

"Now," the kunoichi began again. "This whole problem started exactly three weeks ago…"

----------

"-Three weeks ago a few of my men, who were stationed in a small village along the border between us and Amegakure, came back to me with important news." Takara explained.

The members of Team Gai were knelt down before him again, listening intently, though remained prepared for any more 'tests' that might appear.

"Apparently, they had overheard an old man running around the village claiming to have discovered gold a few miles to the south of them. The men went to see for themselves, and after some searching, found the area that the man had described. They dug for a while, and ended up returning with close to a pound of pure gold. By their calculations, the vane of gold in that area could easily stretch for miles in all directions. Naturally, we immediately sent out workers to begin excavating it, but we ran into a problem…"

----------

"By the time our men got to the site to begin their digging, they found men from Kusa trying to do the same."

Baki sighed inwardly. He could already figure out what this was leading up to.

"The gold was discovered almost exactly on the boundry line between Ame and Kusa. Fighting quickly broke out between the two sides, and we've been at a stand-off over it since then," Kasumi continued.

"So this is all a big squabble over who should rightfully have the gold?" Kankuro asked.

"It's not some measly little squabble," Kazuya sneered. "It's a serious matter, though I wouldn't expect any of you to understand that."

"Brother," Kasumi said with a firm glare. Kazuya just huffed, but stayed silent.

"He is right, though," the girl said, turning back to the group. "That gold is very important to the land of Ame…"

----------

"The land of Kusa has been in a slump as of late," Halek informed them, taking up there the daimyo had left off. "Our main sources of income come from shinobi jobs and exporting vegetation to the lands of Suna, Iwa and even Kumo. However, missions have been few and far between in the last few months, and a longer-than-average winter season has put a hampering on our crops this year."

"If we had this gold," Takara continued. "We wouldn't have to worry about any further money problems for a very long time. However, it would seem that Ame desires it just as much as we."

"If that is the case," Lee said. "Then could you not simply split the gold with Ame? Surely there is enough that could keep both of your countries in high financial support?"

Takara chuckled. "Yes, we thought so too, and at first we believed that Ame would be willing to compromise as well, but…"

----------

"We arranged a peace meeting to discuss how we would divide the gold two weeks ago. There was a lot of tension, and we knew that Kusa didn't trust us to keep our word; their daimyo, Shigata Takara didn't even come to the negotiations. After some initial bickering, we eventually believed that we had come to an official agreement. But then things started going wrong."

"Like what?" Naruto questioned.

"Like one of their representatives suddenly dying," Kazuya said in a dry tone.

"What?" the blond boy said in shock.

"Yes," Kasumi confirmed. "Halfway through the meeting, one of the Kusa men suddenly began coughing blood, and fell over dead just seconds later."

"Was it some type of assassination?" Temari asked.

"No, not by any of our men, at least. But as you can imagine, Kusa believed otherwise. They called off all talks of peace and were ready to fight us for possession of the gold. Masamuri-sama did all he could to regain their trust, sending them peace offerings every day for the next five days. Kusa eventually relented, and agreed to meet again for more talk."

----------

"We met again one week after the first. I had already been fearful of an attack on my life before, so I stayed behind once again, but sent several of our most talented shinobi along with our mediators to ensure that another tragedy didn't happen."

"Did it?" Neji asked.

"In a sense, yes," the daimyo answered. "But this time it was the Amegakure leader Masamuri who was suddenly stricken with a sickness."

"Sickness?" Lee repeated.

"Maybe, though the general thought at the time was poison. Ame accused us of seeking vengence for what happened the week before, though I can assure you, just as I assured them, that none of my men had anything to do with it. Halek was there himself, and he's my right-hand man. He never would have allowed anything so wreckless to happen during such a delicate time."

The wisened, old man nodded at the statement. "Masamuri looked completely fine when he first showed up at the meeting, but shortly after arriving, I noticed he started to grow pale. His breathing became labored and he finally collapsed."

----------

"So did Masamuri-san-?"

"No, luckily," Kazuya said, cutting Temari off. "He's still alive, but he has yet to recover from the incident."

"Our medic-nins and doctors spent hours examining him, but found no traces of poison or even any sort of virus or disease in Masamuri-sama's body. They finally concluded that he had merely collapsed due to a build up of stress. We gave our apologies to Kusa for our accusations, and we have both agreed to give one more chance to a treaty."

----------

"And that is where we sit right now," Halek said. "Today will be our third meeting with Ame, and that is the reason that you have been hired."

"You want us to oversee the meeting with you?" Tenten guessed.

"Correct," the old man said. "We still can't rule out the possibility that this is all a big scheme by Ame to get all the gold for themselves. Unfortunately, there's also the possibility that there is another outside party who also knows about the treasure, and is using these meetings as a way to stir up dissention between our two countries for their own gain. Therefore, while this meeting is going on, we will need you four to be vigilant. You will be responsible for spotting anything even remotely suspicious that could lead to another assassination attempt. If this meeting doesn't go as planned, there will be no further peace talks, and we will have no choice but to use force against Ame."

"Yosh! Fear not, Takara-sama," Gai shouted with enthusiasm. "My bright, youthful students and I shall see to it that no war will befall your beautiful country, and if we fail, then we shall all run one thousand laps around your village!"

"Don't make promises for us!" Tenten berated him.

Takara laughed again. "Well I don't beleive something so strenuous will be necessary, but I'm most thankful that we have your support."

Halek stood back up, wobbling slightly with his cane. "We leave for the border in two hours. Please use this time to prepare yourselves."

----------

Team Baki had left the room, and made their way outside to see that the rain had finally stopped. Kankuro was the first to speak.

"So basically, the only reason we're really here is to be watch dogs."

"Correct," Baki said. "But there's something more to this mission than what we've been told."

"You think that they're keeping something from us?" Temari asked.

"Yes, though I don't know what it might be."

"It could be the work of another country, you know?" Kankuro added. "Both sides get attacked, war breaks out, whoever it is comes in and sweeps the whole place clean in the end."

Baki hummed softly. He turned to the other members of his team, who had yet to speak their opinions. He knew that Gaara wouldn't, but Naruto...

"Uzumaki?" The boy's head shot up at hearing his name. "Anything to add?"

Naruto rubbed his chin, looking to be deep in thought. "All I know for sure...is that Kazuya guy is a jerk and I'd love to punch him in the face! I don't trust him at all!"

Baki rolled his eyes. Not groundbreaking, but something that he might have come to expect from Naruto.

"We'll be leaving soon, so don't wander far," he told them. "We can't afford mistakes in this mission."

-----------

"Those kids look like they could be a problem."

"I'm not worried."

"Perhaps you should be. Who knows what the consequences could be if they did something to screw this up?"

"Yes, you don't have to remind me. I'm well aware of how delicate this is. Just stay on guard, give warning to the men, and be prepared to deal with them when the time comes."

"Of course."

End Chapter 8

----------

**Yorozu Hari no Ame: Roughly translated to "Rain of Ten Thousand Needles"**

Busy, busy busy. No time to chat this time. Next chapter out soon, already halfway written because I had to cut this chapter short. Won't be able to write for several days, but hope to have the next part out in two weeks time. Thanks all for reading, reviewing, and sticking with me to this point. Much love and peace to you all.

LL


	10. Chapter 9

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto fanfic

Standard disclaimer still applies.

----------

Chapter 9

"Baki-sensei, what's the point of having this meeting in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because Naruto, this tiny village is as close as possible to the borderline of the two countries." the jounin answered. "Meeting here puts both sides on neutral ground rather than giving one of them a 'home field advantage', so to speak. Also, this village doesn't train shinobi, so the threat of potential danger is considered to be lower."

"Oh," the blond said. "I guess that makes sense."

"What's keeping them?" Kankuro grumbled, still a bit cranky from his lack of sleep. "They tell us to be here at noon, then they're the one's who are late." He didn't get much for a response beyond Naruto's nod of agreement.

The group was currently waiting for the arrival of Kasumi and Kazuya and the rest of the Ame representatives to arrive in the tiny town where the soldiers had first heard about the gold three weeks ago. There really wasn't much to the place; it was probably only half the size that Ame was, which in turn was much smaller than either Suna or Konoha. The only building that stood out as being large was the town hall in the middle of the village, where the meeting was supposed to take place.

They continued to wait for another five minutes before they spotted the two Ame siblings approaching them. They were moving at a fairly slow pace because they were both supporting another person in between them. Once they got closer to the Suna team, they could see that he was a middle-aged man with dark, graying hair wearing a dark gray and blue yukata. Upon even closer inspection, they noticed just how haggard and sickly the man's face looked.

"Forgive our tardiness," Kasumi greeted. "We can't travel as fast as we'd like to with Masamuri-sama in this condition-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the puppet master interrupted. "You brought HIM with you?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course," Kasumi said. "Masamuri-sama is the leader of Amegakure, after all. How would we look showing up at a meeting with this much importance if he weren't here?"

"But he looks like a corpse!" Naruto sputtered.

"I have to agree with my teammates," Temari stated. "With the leader of Ame in that sort of condition, he'll be a prime target for anyone who might try to attack the meeting."

"No one will harm Masamuri-sama," Kazuya said with a firm glare. "Not if you all do your job correctly. That's why we hired you people, remember?"

The faces of Naruto and Kankuro twitched in agitation, but a low clearing of Baki's throat made them hold in their retorts.

"I don't like that guy," Naruto grumbled.

"Can't believe I'm saying it, but I agree with you," Kankuro grumbled back.

"While I agree with my students that bringing Masamuri-san here will be more a hindrance than helpful, we will see to it that he remains unharmed," Baki assured them.

Kasumi nodded her approval, though Kazuya remained unimpressed. "Words hold little meaning. I still believe it was foolhardy of Suna to send us a group of children for something so important."

Baki allowed an amused grin to cross his lips. "I admit that they are young, but my students are some of the finest shinobi in all of Suna."

The unexpected words of praise caught everyone sans Gaara by surprise. The rare treat of hearing their sensei vocally praise them made Temari and Kankuro hold their heads a bit higher, while Naruto positively glowed, until Kankuro ruined his mood by leaning his shoulder against the top of his head.

"I think what sensei meant was that _'Some _of his team are the finest shinobi in Suna.'" he said looking straight at the blond. "One of us still sucks and just kind of gets in the way of the others."

Naruto growled and elbowed the taller boy in the side. "Don't be so hard on yourself, make-up face."

Kankuro wrapped Naruto's head up in a tight headlock. "It's FACE PAINT, you idiot midget!"

"Ow! Let go, damnit!" the blond shouted, punching Kankuro in the side repeatedly.

"Would you two grow up!" Temari shouted, though neither boy really seemed to hear her.

The Rain nin stared blankly at the display before them.

"Finest?" Kazuya asked Baki, who simply sighed and turned his gaze to the ground.

"They perform well when they need to," he said.

A low groan drew everyone's attention to the pitiful-looking Masamuri, and Kasumi and Kazuya shared a troubled look.

"Let's be on our way," the girl commanded. "We need to get this over with as quickly as we can."

And so the group moved on, making their way to the town hall. Along the way, Naruto and the others couldn't help but notice that most of the people that they passed by would smile and wave or give similar friendly gestures toward Kasumi and Kazuya. Kasumi returned most of the gestures, while her brother kept his gaze straight ahead of him and didn't bother acknowledging them.

"These people all know you?" Naruto asked Kasumi.

She smiled at him. "Kazuya and I grew up here. We moved to Ame when we were twelve so we could become shinobi."

"Uzumaki," Baki called, catching the boy's attention. "Don't forget what we've gone over the last week in our training."

"No problem, sensei," Naruto assured him. "A ninja must always remain focused, alert and not allow anything to distract him."

"Very good," the jounin said. "Just be sure to keep that-"

"SENSEI LOOK!" Naruto suddenly gasped, pointing frantically behind the older man. Everyone turned, weapons drawn, to where he was pointing.

"What? What is it, Naruto?" Temari asked, not seeing anything but a few building.

Naruto stepped forward, still pointing intently toward one of the buildings. "R...R...Ramen Shop," he gushed, unable to stop himself from drooling.

A painful silence followed as the rest of the group went through several reactions ranging from glaring at him to hanging their heads in embarrassment.

"Uzumaki," Baki growled. "What were we just saying about 'focus'?"

"I know, Baki-sensei. It's just that I haven't eaten a single noodle of ramen in the last thirteen days, eighteen hours, fifty-two minutes and thirty-five seconds. I've never gone that long without ramen before and if I don't eat some soon I'll start going into withdrawal!"

"Let's go, Naruto," Temari commanded, grabbing him by the sleeve and pulling him along.

"Can't we just stop for one bowl?"

"NO!" everyone but Gaara and Masamuri shouted.

Tears appeared in Naruto's eyes as he was slowly pulled away until the ramen shop was no longer in view. "Wait for me ramen," he sniffled. "I'll come back for you!"

A few minutes later, the group arrived at the meeting hall. Naruto had regained control of himself and had settled for pouting about his ramen deficiency, and everyone traveled in silence, sans the occasional moan of discomfort from Masamuri.

Inside the hall, they were stopped by a middle-aged woman.

"Kasumi-chan, Kazuya-kun, I hope you've been well?" she greeted the siblings.

"We've been just fine, Izumi-san," Kasumi greeted. Kazuya gave what was taken as an affirmative grunt.

"Have the Kusa representatives arrived yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, though we expect them any moment now."

Team Baki followed the Ame team into a small conference room. Masamuri was placed in the center on one side of the table, with the two young bodyguards flanking him closely. The others all positioned themselves around them, Naruto making it a point to not get any closer to Kazuya than was necessary.

There they waited for another five minutes, and the combined agitation in the room was growing unbearable, until...

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The wooden door burst inward, nearly flying off its hinges as a man and a young boy, who looked completely identical with the exception of their height, flew into the room. They flashed the group dual award-winning smiles and thumbs-ups.

"The shinobi of Kusa and Konoha have arrived!" the taller man announced grandiosely. The two men in green proceeded to blink in surprise as they found themselves faced with five ninja, weapons drawn and ready to strike at the drop of a hat.

"Perhaps our grand entrance was a bit misleading, sensei," Lee wondered.

"You think!?" Tenten shouted behind them, punching the boy in the back of the head. She quickly pushed her way to the front and bowed repeatedly to everyone. "Sorry, so sorry. They're usually more behaved than this." The long-haired boy next to her lowered his head as well, mumbling some words of a not-so-kind nature about his male teammates.

The Ame and Suna nin slowly lowered their weapons as a bellowing laugh rang out from the hallway.

"I knew hiring you Konohan's was a good idea," the portly man said. "You sure know how to liven things up! Hahahaha!"

Takara, Halek and three other shinobi entered behind the Konoha team and began seating themselves on the floor across the table from the others.

It wasn't until this moment that something very important occurred to Baki. Konoha shinobi... He turned toward Naruto, but found that he wasn't there. He glanced around the room, finding no trace of the boy. He eyed his students, two of whom shrugged in confusion. Gaara, on the other hand, lowered his own eyes to the table before him. Baki's eyebrows raised, then slowly moved his foot forward a few inches, having it come into contact with something soft.

_Just wonderful_, the jounin sighed in distress. He was going to have one hell of a headache before this was all said and done.

----------

Naruto was, for the umpteenth time in the course of his life, cursing his luck. The gods of the universe really seemed to enjoy tormenting him at every possible opportunity. It was a wonder that any of them had time to get any real work done.

Imagine, the first mission he'd ever received, a B-ranked, super-important mission that could determine the fate of two whole countries, and here he was, hiding under a table.

What the hell was Konoha doing here anyway? Of all the missions to all the lands in the world, how was it his fate to end up sharing one with them? If they happened to find him...Baki had told him before that if someone from Konoha discovered Naruto and demanded his return, there wouldn't be anything that Suna would be able to do without putting a stretch on their treaty together.

"My my my, Masamuri-san, it would seem that you've yet to recover from that strange incident last week," Naruto heard someone from Kusa mention. "Are you sure it's wise for you to be here?"

"Thank you for your concern, Halek-san," Kasumi responded. "But we'll be making certain that nothing goes wrong this time. Masamuri-sama will be fine."

A loud laugh caused the table to jerk, which made Naruto jump as well.

"I always thought that you were too headstrong for your own good, Masamuri! Putting yourself through all of this when you look like death warmed over. I have to say I admire your determination and the will of your men...and women," Takara finished with another laugh.

A few incompressible mutterings followed from both sides as everyone finished getting themselves settled. Naruto was already wishing he could move a little to make himself a bit more comfortable, but for fear that the slightest noise might draw attention, he was forced to remain where he was.

He prayed that this wouldn't take long. His leg was already starting to fall asleep.

---------

After the initial greetings were given, negotiations began between the two factions.

As Takara, Halek, Kasumi and Kazuya tried to find an agreeable decision on how the gold would be split, the members of Suna and Konoha sat idly by, awaiting any strange occurrence that might mean an attack to come. Temari and Baki would also send quick glances toward the table every few moments.

As this went on, Hyuga Neji, sitting stock-still and not betraying a thing, calmly activated his Byakugan and began scanned the room for anything even slightly suspicious.

As it turned out, he found not one, but several things. But rather than being things like assassins hiding in the ceiling or something similarly threatening, his attention was drawn to certain members of the meeting.

The first was the red-haired boy from Suna. Neji had been wary of the deadly aura the boy gave off since he had entered the room, but he still wasn't sure what to make of this...

The boy's body was flowing with immense amounts of chakra. And there was something...some sort of indistinguishable object that seemed to be lodged within the boy's abdomen right below the sternum. The large amounts of chakra appeared to be streaming from it, and no matter how hard the prodigy concentrated, he couldn't see through the obstruction to the tenketsu behind it. Another thing was the gourd that the boy carried...the substance inside it, which appeared to be sand, was also flowing with an abundant amount of chakra. That made absolutely no sense to him, as he knew that inanimate objects didn't contain chakra. Neji made a mental note to keep a sharp eye on the boy.

Next, his vision settled on the sickly looking leader of Ame. Giving a thorough scanning of the man's body, he was rather relieved to note that there were no traces of poison, diseases or recent wounds to be found. But there was definitely something wrong with the man. His chakra level was so low Neji wouldn't have been surprised if he fell over dead at any moment.

And it wasn't just the man's chakra. His eyes were glassy and unblinking, his breathing was short and shallow, and his heartbeat was deathly weak. It couldn't be beating more than twenty times per minute.

What in the world had brought this man to such a condition? And more importantly, what was keeping him alive?

As he pondered this, his uninhibited vision drew his attention to Halek. Like the Suna boy before, Neji also found an abnormality inside the man's body. Had he not noticed it back in Kusa, or had it just not been there then? Perhaps he had simply been too preoccupied with finding the hidden shinobi to really register it at the time...

But unlike the boy, Halek's obstruction looked to have a less-than-solid appearance to it. It was more like a cloud of smoke or fog than anything else. It also had a decent amount of chakra surrounding it, just not nearly as much as the other.

The Hyuga was feeling disturbed and a little annoyed that there were so many potential cases for threats in this room and even his Byakugan wasn't able to decipher what they all were. Then, just as he was about to deactivate his kekkei genkai, he caught a glimpse of one last thing, and thankfully he wasn't thrown off by this one at all.

"Sensei," he whispered, careful to move his lips as little as possible and speaking low enough that no one else could hear. "There's someone under the table."

Gai showed no reaction, but responded in the same fashion. "Who is it?"

"I don't know. It's a young boy, it looks like he's wearing a hitai-ite from Suna. His chakra level looks to be above average, but other than that..."

Gai frowned, lowering his gaze to the table, but not far enough to see beneath it_. Perhaps Ame's purpose of hiring Suna was for an assassination plot? Perhaps I should..._

Gai's thoughts abruptly stopped as everyone's attention turned to the silent red-head, Gaara, who hadn't moved a muscle since sitting down. He had reached up and removed the cork from the gourd on his back. Tension followed as sand began flowing out of the giant container and the three Kusa shinobi moved to position themselves before a suddenly very pale-faced Takara.

"What the hell are you doing, brat?" Kazuya demanded through clenched teeth.

Gaara didn't feel the need to respond to that question, nor did he take any notice of everyone else that was staring at him. Instead, he sent his sand flowing under the table. A yelp of shock was heard that made everyone move further away, trying to see what exactly was happening.

Takara's chin was trembling in fear. "I-if this is your idea of a-"

The table was suddenly overturned as a large mound of shifting sand slowly rose into the air, it's prisoner held firmly within. Everyone, especially Gaara's siblings and sensei, watched in wonder to see what the unstable boy was planning.

They received quite a surprise when the sand whipped about and flung the person inside through the door, followed by a louder crash which signified the boy hadn't stopped at the hallway wall. A glance through the hole where the door used to be revealed a second hole in the wall as well.

All eyes turned back to Gaara, who was still seated in the same position as though he hadn't done a thing.

"You may continue," he stated evenly.

No one really seemed to know how to respond to that. Glares of suspicion were being shot in every direction now, but everyone slowly moved back to position, except for Takara, who kept himself up against the wall so as not to get any closer to Gaara than he had to.

"I don't remember missions being such a headache before," Kankuro mumbled, rubbing his temples gingerly.

Gai frowned again. The boy could have been an assassin, but what was the point of Suna disposing of him if he had been working with them? Could the redhead have figured out that they knew he had been there? Or perhaps it had been someone in disguise, trying to make it look like the work of Suna and Ame...

"Gai-sensei..." Lee whispered. Gai shared an unspoken conversation with the boy and nodded wordlessly.

"Go," he urged. Lee immediately got to his feet, gave a quick bow to the others, then left the room, jumping through the hole that was made by Naruto's exit. Temari instinctively grabbed her fan, but felt Baki's hand on her arm. He gave her a look that clearly said that she was to stay put. Begrudgingly, she released her grip on her fan and settled back into position.

"Have a little faith, Temari," Baki said softly. "The boy's been in worse situations than this, after all."

----------

"Itai," Naruto moaned, weakly picking himself up from the ground. His spine felt like it was in a hundred pieces and if he wasn't mistaken, his brains were probably leaking out of his ears at the moment. He really wanted to start cursing at Gaara for doing what he'd done, but at the same time wanted to thank him for getting him out of that situation.

"Still," he grumbled. "He didn't have to throw me THAT hard." He stood up, feeling his back pop in protest, but the pain was already starting to vanish.

He glanced around, finding himself outside the building amongst a row of shrubs and bushes and wondered what he should do next. He obviously couldn't go back in there, so it seemed that the only choice left was to stay put and wait until the meeting came to an end-

"So you are still here!" a voice said from behind him.

Naruto didn't even bother turning around, and took off at a dead run. He didn't have to see who it was to know that the voice belonged to the weird looking kid with the thick eyebrows from Konoha.

"You are quick, adversary," the boy behind him called out. "But you are not fast enough to escape from me!"

Naruto grimaced, hearing the approaching footsteps of his pursuer. "Well lucky for me," he mumbled. "I don't have to be fast to escape from people." He turned the corner of the building and immediately made his hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Konoha Senpu!"

No sooner had three extra Naruto's poof into existence that one was instantly snuffed back out with a well placed kick to the back from the boy in green. Thrown into a panic at having been caught up to so quickly, the remaining three Naruto's scattered, running off in different directions. The boy took a chance, and ran down the one on the right, only to come up empty-handed as that one also disappeared.

Glancing around, Lee found that the boy and his remaining clone were already out of sight. Running back to the building, he scaled to the roof, hoping to catch a sight of orange and blue movement. Several moments later, he felt that he was out of luck.

"You are a worthy adversary, my youthful opponent," he commented with enthusiasm. "The next time we meet, I will make certain that you do not escape!"

Lee prepared to leap back down and return to the meeting, but thought better of it.

"I have already shown bad manners by leaving in the middle of the meeting for any purpose, and it would be even ruder to go back in while it is still in progress." He scratched his cheek idly, wondering what he should do.

"Perhaps I should patrol the village?" he thought aloud. "If he was an assassin, then he may try to strike again."

His pondering was interrupted by a low rumbling.

"I am starting to wish that I had spent the few precious hours before coming here on eating lunch instead of last-minute training...and that Gai-sensei had woken us up earlier this morning so we would have time to eat breakfast," he mumbled forlornly, rubbing his empty stomach. "Okay then, I will find a place to eat and at the same time keep a sharp lookout for my adversary! But I can not be gone long, lest Gai-sensei should start to worry about me. And if I should fail in any way, then I shall do five hundred handstand push-ups!"

That decided, he dropped down from the roof, taking off at a dash.

----------

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that his Kage Bunshin distraction had succeeded.

Walking out from the alley between the two buildings he was hiding in, he took a final look around to be safe. The kid must have given up his search, or he might have gone back to get the others and now they were all out looking for him. The boy was sure to have recognized him as the demon-boy that Konoha had always talked about, he would be surprised if anyone in Konoha didn't know who and what he was at this point.

He shook his head. These last few weeks had really made him paranoid, with good reason maybe, but still...

So now what? He still couldn't go back to the meeting, and now his teammates wouldn't know where he was. How was he supposed to know if something went wrong? What if a real attack came and he wasn't there to help? He lowered his head in disappointment.

There really wasn't anything he could do about it, was there? Just sit around and wait for them to come looking for him. Heh, some great first mission this was turning out to be.

But as he lifted his head back up, his spirits lifted as well. "Well, at least I can enjoy myself while I'm waiting for them," he said with a grin.

He walked into the restaurant he had somehow happened to stop in front of. "Hey oyaji! Give me a bowl of ramen and keep them coming!" he shouted to the man at the counter.

Three minutes later, Naruto, ecstatic beyond belief, stared down at the steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. Had he really gone so long without this? How the hell had he managed? Sadly, he remembered that he'd spent the majority of his money on his new outfit, and was only left with enough for about three bowls. He was really going to have to make them last.

"Itadakimasu!" he shouted, and dug into his precious sustenance.

He had already swallowed an entire mouthful before he found himself fighting the urge to gag. His chopsticks snapped in half between his fingers and he dropped the bowl and forcefully shoved it away from him, staring at it in horror.

That ramen...no, he would never insult the majestic name of ramen by associating it with that stuff. That...vile monstrosity was the worst tasting noodle and broth-based food he'd ever eaten. It actually made the cold soba that he'd accidentally eaten back in the Suna hospital look not only appetizing, but something that he'd have gladly eaten for all eternity if the alternative had been this crap!

"Hey old man," he called to the man behind the counter. "What's wrong with this ramen?"

Rather than getting angry, the man just heaved a heavy sigh. "Sorry kid, but that's the best we got for now. If we could actually get some decent ingredients it might be different, but..."

"Why can't you?"

The man chuckled mirthlessly. "Money problems, kid. We've never been a really well-off village, but ever since-"

"Excuse me, sir!" a voice from the doorway called. "I am afraid I am in a bit of a hurry. Might I get a bowl of-?"

Lee stopped mid-sentence when he saw Naruto sitting directly before him. The two boys stared silently at each other before Naruto sprang on top of the table in a panic and Lee took his traditional fighting stance.

"So I have found you again, adversary," he stated. "This time I promise to be the victor!"

Naruto was at a loss. He couldn't run away again if the kid was blocking the door, and things would just be worse if he fought back against someone from Konoha...

"Don't fight in the restaurant, kids," the owner said to them. "If you ruin anything here I won't have the money to replace it."

"Oh sorry," Lee said with a bow. He turned back to Naruto. "In that case, shall we finish our battle outside?"

Naruto swallowed and scratched his head. "Err...do we have to?"

Lee blinked, being caught off guard by the question. "Well...I suppose not. Though if you were here to assassinate Takara-sama, then I must stop you."

It was Naruto's turn to blink. "Takara? ...Wait, you think I'm an assassin! No way!"

Lee frowned, studying Naruto's face intently. "...You...might be telling the truth. Your eyes appear to hold both purity and youthfulness. It's rare that anyone capable of such a deed would have that look."

"Er...thanks," Naruto said hesitantly. He eyed the boy warily, wondering what the best way was to handle this. "...Do uh...do you...know me?" he finally asked.

Lee looked him up and down a few times, cocking his head to the side. "Sorry, normally I'm very good at remembering faces, but you don't look familiar to me."

Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Maybe he could get out of this yet.

"Might I ask your name?" Lee continued. "Perhaps that will jog my memory."

_Damn it_, Naruto cursed. "I uh...I can't tell you that. It's just that, well...it could get me into...a lot of trouble if I did."

Lee frowned. "I would hate for you to get in trouble over something so trivial, I apologize for prying."

Another sigh of relief, and the two boys fell silent, not sure where to go from here.

"Forgive my assumptions," Lee mentioned. "But you must be some sort of high-ranked shinobi in Suna if you are not to divulge your name to others, correct?"

Naruto couldn't help but grin despite himself. "Do I really look like a high-ranked shinobi? Really?" he asked.

"Well, it is certainly not unheard of that someone as young as you and I could be a jounin or ANBU level ninja," he surmised. "And it is customary for ANBU to withhold their identities from others..."

Naruto couldn't help it. Having someone compare his to an ANBU just made him want to gloat. "Well, I guess I'm not quite at that level yet, but I will be soon. In fact, I'm going to be the next Kazekage!"

Both boys completely forgot about anything else as they became lost in conversation with each other, dealing from things such as teammates, training, and techniques, though Naruto made certain to avoid any talk about his younger years and not reveal that he had lived in Konoha until just recently. When Lee had finally remembered to get food for himself, Naruto had offered the remainder of his own ramen to him, giving a warning to him about it's quality as well. Strangely, Lee, more than likely out of courtesy than anything else, managed to finish the bowl without any verbal complaint, which came as a shock to the owner.

Naruto's mood had certainly lifted, but he felt a nagging sadness in the back of his mind. To think that someone like Lee, someone that he could connect so well with in such a short time, had lived in Konoha the whole time he had. Why couldn't he have met him sooner? Before the whole ordeal with Mizuki and Iruka.

Of course, he still hadn't told Lee his name, and there was always that big possibility that Lee would scorn him like all the others if he should learn who he really was.

"We certainly share much in common, my friend," Lee commented as they left the restaurant.

"Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lee nodded firmly. "We both have someone that overshadows us that we work hard to one day overcome, right?"

Naruto nodded, thinking of Gaara and his other two teammates.

"We are both filled with the fires of youth and justice," he continued. "Even now, we both work hard to preserve the peace and happiness between two nations. And through our hard work, we both hope to one day accomplish big dreams."

Naruto thought about that. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Of course! I myself intend to one day become the greatest taijutsu master the lands have ever seen, and prove that even someone who cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu can still be a splendid ninja! And the world will know me as The Courageous Green Beast of Konohagakure, Rock Lee!" he shouted, thrusting his fist into the air.

Naruto laughed, finding Lee's upbeat attitude rather contagious. "Yeah, and I'll become the greatest Kazekage in the History of Suna, and all of Suna will love and acknowledge me, and I'll be called...uh..."

Lee waited patiently as Naruto bowed his head, trying to come up with a more impressive nickname than Lee had. He finally said the first thing that came to mind.

"They'll call me The Pride of Sunagakure, the Legendary Shinobi, Uzumaki Na-" His hand flew up and clamped itself tightly over his mouth, eyes widened in horror at his slip-up. He glanced over at Lee, who was staring back with his mouth slightly agape.

"Ano...I thought you weren't supposed to..." he started to say, but broke himself off before finishing. Seeing the look of fear on his newly made friend's face, he grinned and gave him a trademark 'Nice Guy Pose'. "I promise not to tell anyone."

Naruto's hand lowered, and an uncertain smile slowly made its way to his face again. "Thanks, Lee."

They walked a bit further before Lee thought of something. "Uzumaki, you said...I am quite certain that I have heard that name before."

Dread came back, as the blond waited on pins and needles for Lee to elaborate.

"Yes, I am sure of it!" he said, punching his fist into his palm. "It was last week at the Ichiraku Ramen shop. I had stopped in for a quick meal before a mission and I heard the owner and his young daughter mention it."

"R-really?" He hadn't expected that as an answer.

"Yes, I heard Ichiraku-san mention that business wasn't doing as well as it used to, and then Ayame-san said that it was a shame that Uzumaki Naruto had left. I am certain that was it."

He _really _hadn't expected that as an answer. Someone from Konoha actually _missed _him? That was definitely news to him. There had to be some rational explanation for it, though. Maybe they never knew about him having the Kyubi inside him, or maybe they only missed him for the money they had made off of all the ramen he'd bought from them over the years. Both of those were major probabilities.

"How odd that you would have the same family name as him," Lee commented absently. "Are you two related, perhaps?"

Naruto paled. "Well, I uh...

"Lee!"

The two boys looked ahead and saw Lee's female teammate rushing toward them. Naruto didn't even have time to consider that she might know more about him than Lee had before she was right in front of them.

"Where the hell have you been?" she demanded. She gave a suspicious look at Naruto. "And what are you doing with him? Wasn't he an assassin?"

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Lee beat him to it. "No Tenten, he is not an assassin. He is here to preserve peace and youthfulness just as we are," he assured her.

Tenten gave him another quizzical looking-over, then shrugged. "Whatever. We have to go, Lee, things took a bad turn at the meeting."

"Another attack?" Lee questioned.

"I don't know," the kunoichi admitted. "First something happened to Halek and he collapsed, then Neji saw something that no one else could see, and then everything just fell apart and everyone ran off."

"Halek-san didn't die, did he?" Lee asked.

She shrugged helplessly. "Takara's bodyguards carried him off, and Takara commanded our team to assemble at the mining area outside the village."

"But what about-?"

"Just come on!" she interrupted. "Neji and Gai-sensei are waiting for us! We can talk more there." She then turned and started running again before he was able to ask anything else.

Lee began running after her, but stopped and turned back to Naruto. "Uzumaki-kun."

"Yeah?"

The boy flashed another Nice Guy Pose. "Even though we are on opposite sides, we fight for the same goal. We will now have to work even harder to bring peace back to these lands. Let us both do our best."

Naruto grinned and returned the gesture. "Damn right! I'll definitely figure out who's been causing all these problems between Ame and Kusa! And if that doesn't work, then we'll just have to make them stop their dumb battle by beating them up ourselves!"

Lee laughed and turned to leave. "May the flames of youth continue to blaze within you, my friend. Farewell for now!"

"Bye, Fuzzy-brows!" he called after him. Lee was out of sight in mere moments, and Naruto grew serious. If things really had gone that bad, then he needed to find his team, and fast. Not having a clue where to start looking, he scaled a nearby building and glanced around. A quick scanning and his eyes landed on the forms of a boy and girl running to the edge of the village with a person slung over their shoulders.

He couldn't see any of his teammates, but he decided that he should probably be headed in the same direction as Kasumi and Kazuya, and he began leaping across the rooftops in an attempt to catch up with them before they got too far away.

----------

"Assemble my troops and begin digging immediately!" the portly leader of Kusa shouted to everyone around him. "If anyone tries to get in your way, kill them! And you two," he said, turning on Gai and Neji. "I want you and those other two with you to deal with those Suna reinforcements that Masamuri hired. They'll definitely show up here to stop us soon, and when they do you are to exterminate them!"

A troubled look appeared on Gai's face. "Takara-sama, you are probably unaware of this, but the village of Konoha is currently bound in a treaty of peace with the village of Suna. If we were to openly attack them, even in a mission like it, it would surely-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Takara roared. "You're working for ME now and that means you'll do what I say! Is that clear?"

Gai bowed his head. "Yes, sir. Come Neji, we must meet up with Tenten and Lee."

As the two Konoha nin walked off, Takara turned to one of his own soldiers. "Listen here," he muttered. "I want you to gather two dozen of our best men and watch those Konoha and Suna teams. If one of them happens to kill the other, then I want you to move in and kill the remainders."

The ninja's eyes widened at the order. "But sir, the Konoha team is our ally here. Why would you have us attack them?"

"Because they know about our gold now, you fool! Do you think for even one second that if they go back to Konoha they won't tell the Hokage all about the vast amounts of gold buried here? They'll want it all for themselves! And there's no way our forces could stop them! The same thing goes for Suna; we can't let any of them get away with that information or we've as much as lost it. All we have to do is kill them ourselves and report them to Konoha as casualties of battle, then the gold will be all ours."

The man stared at his leader, not believing what he was hearing. The daimyo had never sounded so irrational before. "But sir, I..." His protest stopped dead in his throat, realizing that it would be foolish to try reasoning with him now. "As you command, sir."

----------

Once out of the village, Naruto began jumping from branch to branch, holding in a curse as more rain began to pour down on him. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to catch up with them at this pace, and the rain was just making things worse for his vision.

He was beginning to feel completely lost, he heard noises not too far ahead of him. Picking up the pace, he spotted the Ame siblings in a small clearing among the trees and dropped down behind them. As the others became aware of his presence and turned to face him, Naruto received a shock at what he saw.

"Hey, you're..."

End chapter 9

LL


	11. Chapter 10

I'm very quickly becoming annoyed with ffnet's alert system. I only just finished receiving the alerts for reviews and new story chapters that happened over a week ago, and now I'm not getting any at all...again! But, hopefully people will still notice that I've sent this new chapter out.

So, thank you to everyone who reviewed that I didn't respond to personally (I know there was a lot this time. Getting reviews for four or five different stories at once makes it hard to keep track of when you're NOT GETTING THE ALERTS!) So sorry about that.

Please enjoy.

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The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto fanfic

Standard Disclaimer still applies.

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Chapter 10

In a meadow, three miles south of the village that had held their meeting not thirty minutes ago, the shinobi of Kusagakure had already begun preparations for mining the buried gold. With no idea where the majority of the treasure would be, they had split into groups of two or three and spread out about ten feet from each other, forming a small ring, and decided to work their way outwards. The rain that was currently falling was being blessed by some and cursed by others, as it would soften the ground and make digging easier, but at the same time ran the risk of washing away any gold that was dug up. A few had suggested waiting until the rain let up, but Takara was hearing none of that.

Standing several yards away from the ring of ninja was another group, consisting of two young boys, an equally young girl, and one older man. While their allies were busy digging, these four were watching off into the distance to the edge of the clearing. Their eyes were focused on a second group of shinobi, containing an identical number and type of people in it.

Both teams had been given orders on what to do against the other, and that is why, with all things considered, neither wanted to be the side to force the first move.

----------

"So here we are," the boy in black commented to no one in particular. "-standing in the rain, staring down a group of ninja that we've been ordered to fight that we're not supposed to fight, we're missing a member of our team, they've already started digging and we have yet to receive any backup."

He took a glance at his brother out of the corner of his eye. "Granted, I doubt we'll actually _need_ any backup, but still: It would be nice to know that Ame hasn't just left us high and dry out here."

"Who's dry?" Temari asked, irritably brushing her damp locks off of her face. Gaara grunted, seconding his sister's feelings.

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Cripes, this rain keeps up and soon everyone'll know what my real face looks like."

Baki ignored the commentary of his students as he stared fixatedly across the field to the army on the other side. He could barely make out the figures of the four Konoha ninja staring back at them. Looking back on it, Baki wondered if they would have been better off staying within the trees and attempting a sneak attack on Kusa rather than a frontal assault...

But he had a gut feeling that it would have been a failure. It wasn't because they were currently outnumbered so badly, Gaara could handle the majority of them just as Kankuro had said... It was that boy, the one with the gifted eyes. When Baki first really took notice of those eyes back at the meeting hall he'd been a little intimidated by them. His gaze was more piercing than a hawk's, and it seemed like there was nothing that escaped his sight.

Call him paranoid, but with eyes like that, Baki was almost certain that there would be no sneaking past him. Not without some incredibly careful planning that he wasn't sure they'd have time for...

He grimaced. If only Ame would hurry up with reinforcements, then they could handle Konoha while his team dealt with Kusa. IF they would send reinforcements...

"How much longer do we wait, sensei?" Temari asked.

Baki considered the question, coming up with only one answer. "We will wait five more minutes. If nothing has changed by then," He took a breath, not even wanting to hear his own answer. "We will follow the orders we were given."

Temari nodded in understanding, but still remained troubled. "I wonder where Naruto is."

"More importantly," Kankuro said. "I wonder what the hell that Konoha kid saw that we couldn't see."

----------

"Should we not attack them, Gai-sensei?"

"There's no need to rush, Lee," Gai replied. "We are the one's with the advantage right now. Kusa has already begun mining, and Ame has yet to show up to support their Suna allies. The longer we hold off fighting, the less risk of major casualties. Also, I'm certain that Suna is thinking just as we are; they fear provoking an attack and initiating something much worse later on. Therefore, until their reinforcements arrive, they will not move, and we, in turn, have no need to move either."

"Gai-sensei, your vast knowledge astounds even me!" Lee praised.

"So Neji, what exactly happened back there?" Tenten asked before their teammates could start hugging each other out here in public. "I mean, what did you see?"

The Hyuga prodigy crossed his arms, looking thoughtful. "That's a question...that is difficult for me to answer, Tenten..."

Three pairs of eyebrows rose at the boy's confession. "But-"

"I saw it plain as day," he continued. "I just have no idea what it was that I was seeing..."

----------

Neji sat in silence, Byakugan no longer active, as Halek continued his negotiations with Masamuri's two bodyguards. Words were coming forcefully from both sides, each sentence holding a great deal of suspicion and hostility and no real amount of trust anymore. The incident with that boy a few minutes ago had thrown a big rift in the emotions of everyone present, especially since it was still a mystery as to whom the boy really worked for and what his intentions had been.

Apart from the occasional groan, Masamuri hadn't spoken a word since he'd arrived, and Takara hadn't been acting like his jovial self ever since he'd seen the gruesome display by the redheaded boy.

That boy was dangerous, of that Neji was certain. Perhaps in Suna he was known as a genius just as he was back in Konoha. He wondered how talented the boy and his teammates were...

A loud bout of coughing disrupted him of his musings. Turning to the source, he saw Halek doubled over, coughing and hacking uncontrollably as drops of blood began dripping through the fingers that covered his mouth. Takara's three bodyguards immediately moved to his sides, as did Tenten and Gai. Takara looked to have fallen into hysteria as he slid into the corner of the room, quivering and stuttering in terror of an attack that must be coming.

Neji reactivated his Byakugan, looking throughout the entire building for anyone that might be doing this.

"This is what happened before, isn't it?" the jounin from Suna asked the Ame bodyguards.

"Yes," the woman answered, sounding panicked. "Exactly like this!"

"If it's an attack that we can't see, then it has to be some sort of genjutsu, doesn't it?" the female member of the team concluded.

"Who the hell's causing it then?" the face-painted boy demanded. "I've been walking Karasu through every room in the building and haven't found a thing!"

Neji frowned. He considered his ability to read others to be second to none, but they all sounded genuine in their confusion. If it wasn't them causing it, and there was no one else even close enough to be able to cast a genjutsu, then-

Then he noticed something odd. The foggy substance that he had noticed inside of Halek's body earlier was now coursing rampantly through the old man's body. Without a word, he pushed his way next to the elderly man, watching intently.

Where it had started in the man's chest, it had swam down to the stomach, then back up again to the throat, swirling like a cyclone, and upon even closer inspection, leaving tiny, near insignificant cuts along the outer tissue of the lungs, stomach, liver, heart and esophagus. To anyone who didn't possess eyes like his, the cuts would have been invisible, but more and more were appearing all over the organs every second.

Whatever this thing was, it was destroying the old man's body from the inside.

"Stand back!" Neji demanded to the others crowding around next to him.

"Neji, what-?" Gai started.

"Give me room!" he shouted. "I've got it!"

Everyone dropped back a step as Neji stared down intently at the struggling Halek. Whatever it was inside him was moving quickly, but if he timed it just right-

"Juken!" he yelled, driving his index and middle fingers into his abdomen. Halek gasped and his body shuddered, then laid down motionless.

"NEJI!" Tenten screamed as everyone else made various noises of disbelief.

Neji paid them no mind. The fog-substance had been dispelled from Halek's body the moment he'd struck and was now floating in the air above them. He noticed from the looks of everyone else that even outside of the body he was the only one who could see it.

The fog began drifting across the room to where Takara was shuddering against the wall. Without a word, he leapt forward and jabbed his fingers at it again. His arm passed through it without any visible effect, but the fog did change its course and passed through the ceiling, leaving the Kusa daimyo untouched.

"Damnit," he muttered.

"What was it, Neji?" Tenten urged.

Whether the question didn't register with him or he just ignored it, Neji turned the three escorts from Kusa. "Halek-sama needs medical attention immediately. Get him and Takara-sama out of here, in case that thing comes back!"

The three men faltered, sending their gazes between each other, to their leader and the old man lying on the floor. One of them spoke as the others remained dumbstruck. "But...but what about the-"

"Forget it!" Kazuya snapped. "We are leaving as well!"

Kasumi nodded. "One of your own hired hands has just attempted an assassination right before our eyes, yet it falls on Ame to take the blame just like before!"

The siblings hoisted the prone Masamuri off the ground. "Being subjected to this treachery over and over again is a fool's game that we will no longer be a part of!" Kazuya growled. "Expect no further offers of peace from us!"

The two shinobi hurriedly carried their leader from the room. The four Suna nin looked just as confused, and irritated, as everyone else, but left as well without another word.

Byakugan still active, Neji watched the Kusa nin slowly pick up the prone body of Halek as Gai moved to assist Takara.

"Tenten," their sensei said, snapping the girl from her confused haze. "Find Lee. Neji and I will escort our allies to the edge of the village and await you there."

As Tenten left the room, Neji helped Gai bring the catatonic daimyo off the floor, but through the back of his head, he watched as the clouded substance from before drifted away and out of the building.

----------

His teammates stood silently as he finished recapping the incident.

"This is too weird," Tenten muttered.

"Yes, if only we had just a little more information..." Lee said, mimicking Gai as they both rubbed their chins in thought.

"There is a bit more," Neji told them, causing them all to perk up again. He turned his gaze back in the direction that the Suna nin were standing. "I may not understand what that thing was...but I do know where it went..."

----------

Naruto stared, still not believing what he was seeing. "Hey, you're..."

Kasumi and Kazuya stared back, the boy making a grunt of annoyance as he reached for his kodachi. But his hand was grabbed by the rising man behind them. The brother and sister glanced back, then moved to the side, allowing the aging man between them to step forward and face him as well. A dark grin etched itself across the face of the healthy-looking face of Masamuri.

"I believe you're in the wrong place, boy," he grimly stated.

"Masamuri, you're..." Naruto stammered, looking for the proper words. "What happened? I mean, you don't look like you're dying anymore."

The Ame leader smirked. "Let's just say, I'm a fast healer."

Naruto looked unconvinced. "Yeah, I heal pretty fast too, but that's-"

Masamuri cut him off. "As much as I'd love to stay and visit, I'm afraid I have very pressing matters to attend to."

"What matters?" Naruto asked warily.

The man chuckled. "Why, killing that fat daimyo, of course."

He gaped. "K-kill?"

"Yes...I could have already done it earlier if it hadn't been for that damn Konoha brat. But I still have plenty of time."

"But...I thought you were trying to settle things peacefully. Are you telling me that...you were the guys who...?"

"I think you've found us out, dear boy," the man said mockingly.

"But why?" he demanded.

"Simple really; we're just taking what's rightfully ours from a greedy pig who can't keep his snout out of our country's business."

Naruto was about to start yelling, but Kasumi spoke first. "I know this must be a little overwhelming, Naruto, but please don't get the wrong idea. We really do want to escape the need for war between us and Kusa. That's why our only target it Takara. It's his greed that carried us to this point when it was obvious from the start that the majority of the gold lands are located within Ame. If we were to eliminate him, then Kusa would surely lose the will to fight and we could avoid further bloodshed."

Naruto shook his head. "Then what was the point of hiring us? Why did you kill that man at the first meeting, and then the old guy this time if you were only after Takara? And why the HELL is Masamuri looking perfectly healthy now when he was practically dead just fifteen minutes ago?"

Masamuri laughed. "Yes, that...I'm afraid that's just an unfortunate...but I'd rather not bore you with that, and I really must get going before all the fun starts."

"Fun? What fun?"

Masamuri turned and began making his way into the trees. "Well, right now your teammates have orders to attack Kusa if they begin digging. It's just a shame that they'll probably all be dead before their...heheh, reinforcements arrive."

Naruto's eyes flashed red in anger, though it was unnoticed by the others from the rain. "You bastard! You sent them there to die! How can you do that to your own allies?!"

"It's all a matter of business, boy," he called back as he walked toward the brush of trees. "As a shinobi, I know you'll come to understand that."

"I won't let you do this!" Naruto shouted as he began sprinting after the retreating man. But as he leapt toward the trees to catch up, he felt himself being pulled back down and slammed hard onto the ground. Sitting up, he shook his head and looked down at his leg, where a thin weighted chain was tightly wrapped around his left ankle. In awe, he followed the length of chain to Kasumi, who was gripping the other end of her kusarigama between her fists.

"Kasumi-neechan?" he said, the feeling of betrayal really setting in from the girl's action.

Masamuri smirked at the fallen boy and turned to his subordinates. "Don't waste a lot of time with him. There's always the chance that I'll hit another snag."

"Yes, Masamuri-sama," the siblings replied together as their leader vanished from sight.

Naruto turned and glared at them. He tried pulled the weighted chain from his leg, but a tug from Kasumi caused it to wrap tighter. Grimacing, he attempted to stand up, but Kasumi wouldn't grant him that either, and pulled him back down again.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

Kasumi's face remained emotionless, but when she spoke he heard the traces of remorse in her voice. "I'm sorry Naruto, but we can't let you mess this up. We've waited for too many years for something like this to happen."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Too many years? But you guys said you only knew about the gold for three weeks."

"Yes, and having the fortune of finding that gold was the opportunity that Kazuya and I had been waiting for."

Naruto shook his head, growing steadily more confused. "That _you've_ been waiting for? What do you mean?"

The Ame siblings both turned forlorn. "Naruto, I told you before that Kazuya and I grew up in that village, right?" The boy nodded slowly. "Several years ago, it was used as a trade outpost between Ame and Kusa, but when the two countries began expanding their trade routes to the rest of the surrounding countries, the village was used less and less, leaving it painfully short of money.

"When the two of us were twelve, a pack of missing-nin bandits showed up and began ransacking the village. The village had no trained shinobi, so we had no chance of fighting back against them. They spared most of the people, but told us that they would be back in three days and would be expecting an offering, one that was far too great for us to even hope of paying. They said that if we didn't pay it, they'd start killing."

Naruto shivered. "What did you do?"

"What do you think we did, idiot?" Kazuya snapped. "We sent members of the village to beg Masamuri to help us fight them off. And do you know what he told them? He said that if we couldn't pay for their services, then there was nothing they could do for us!"

The boy's grey eyes were clouded over in fury at this point. "So with no other choice, the men went to Takara in Kusa, hoping that he might be more helpful. Like Masamuri, he wasn't exactly thrilled when we said we couldn't pay much due to all of the damage we had sustained the first time and our already poor money issues. But unlike Masamuri, he promised to send help anyway."

"The 'help' that he sent," Kasumi intervened. "-was two chunin."

"Two chunin?" Naruto repeated, thinking he'd misheard her. There was no way that the leaders of two countries could be so cold-hearted to their own citizens.

"He said that's all we could afford for the amount of money we had," Kasumi confirmed darkly. "The fat bastard sent us two chunin to help fight off fifteen missing-nin, who could have all easily been jounin level."

"Needless to say, the outcome was obvious," Kazuya practically spat. "The chunin were killed, our parents, grandparents and friends were killed, buildings were burned down and all but one of the bandits got away. All because those two money-hungry bastards wouldn't help us because we couldn't pay them!"

Kasumi put a sympathetic hand on her quivering brother's shoulder, keeping a firm grip on her chain with the other. "That lady that you saw us speak with at the town hall was our Aunt Izumi, the only other member of our family to survive the raid. We didn't hear a word from either Amegakure or Kusagakure for several weeks after that, except for every now and then when Masamuri would send a few people to help us with rebuilding, not that it meant anything to any of us at that point."

Naruto's foot was going numb from the cut-off of blood to it, and gave a small jerk of his leg, hoping to pull it free from Kasumi, but only succeeded in making the chain coil even more painfully around his ankle. He grimaced; So many things still didn't make sense, and his mind was swimming. "But...you two work for Masamuri," he pointed out to them. "Why would you become shinobi under him if you both hate him so much?"

Kasumi gave him a bitter grin. "I'm sure you're familiar with the old adage 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer', right?"

Kazuya nodded. "We had intended to split up, one of us joining Ame's shinobi ranks and the other joining Kusa's, but since we were from Rain Country, it would have taken far too long to come into good terms with Takara. So we did what we could; the two of us, as well as a few other younger people of our village joined the ranks of Ame. We all told Masamuri that we wanted to be able to protect ourselves from future attacks, which he bought. And while a few of us dropped off after a few years to go back to their families, the majority of them were killed during missions."

"Kazuya and I were soon the last of us still working for him, and we did very well. After eight years of faithful service, we became members of his personal guard."

"It was pure torture playing kiss-up to the son of a bitch," Kazuya added. "But it was the quickest way of getting closer to him."

Naruto lowered his eyes, nodding to himself. "So for all those years, you served under someone you hated just for the chance to kill him, is that it?"

"Close," Kasumi admitted. "In the years under his service, we have had several opportunities to assassinate Masamuri, but even if we had done it, chances were great that we'd be found out, and that would just bring more trouble to our home. Plus we would still be left with the problem of Takara. The plan that we formed was to kill one in such a way as to make it look like the other's doing, but for the longest time we couldn't find any motive for why they would do it. The two countries were always on fairly decent terms with each other, so we were forced to wait for something to occur that would drive a rift between them."

"The gold," Naruto said simply.

"Exactly," the girl smiled. "It took ten years, but it was the perfect set up. We knew all too well the greedy natures of both men, and with the gold located literally on the boundary line, all it took was for word to spread to them to set the wheels into motion."

Naruto dropped his gaze to the ground as the entire conversation began to sink in.

"So why are you telling me all of this?" he asked.

Kasumi's melancholy smile faded to nothing. "Because we wanted you to understand, Naruto. We've all been misleading you since before you even arrived, but you need to know that we all had our reasons. Neither Masamuri nor Takara deserve to have that gold, because they're both nothing more than selfish, cold-hearted men who are driven entirely by their greed. But...the people of our village _do_ need it. But as long as Takara and Masamuri live, they'll never allow it. Do you understand?"

Naruto brushed his matted hair back. "Yeah, I do understand your reasons, but what about the rest of Kusa and Ame? Even if you did manage to kill the leaders, if they find out that you've taken the gold and given it to your village, don't you think they'll come for it?"

"They won't if they go on thinking that the other took it," Kazuya piped in. "With the seeds of deception already sown among them they'll never believe each other when they say that they don't have it."

"But that will just start the very war that we were trying to prevent!" the blond shouted. He was getting irritated and he really wished Kasumi would let go of the damn chain.

Kasumi's face dimmed with guilt, while Kazuya just smirked wider. "You truly are green, kid. There is no stopping this war. Masamuri may believe that killing Takara is all that it will take, but once Kusa gets someone to replace him, it will all just start again. They'll fight over that damn gold until they destroy each other, which is exactly what I've been hoping for since I was twelve."

"But what about all the shinobi and other citizens of the villages? Doing this would put hundreds of innocent lives in danger!"

"Who gives a shit?"

Naruto turned in surprise to Kazuya, though he didn't look nearly as shocked as Kasumi.

"Brother, what-?"

"Those bastards did absolutely nothing while the two of us were forced to watch hundreds of innocent people die right in front of us," he snarled. "Why should I care if they suffer the same fate themselves?" His hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Why do you think I hate shinobi villages? As long as they have any sort of power, they could care less about anyone that's smaller and weaker than themselves."

"That's not true," Naruto stated.

"The hell it's not! Look at your own Suna! One of the strongest hidden villages in the land, but when the insignificant Amegakure asks for help with a war, what do they do? Send in a single team of shinobi and just hope that everything goes well? And in case you didn't notice earlier, Konoha did the exact same thing to Kusa. Now tell me that isn't the actions of an uncaring, or at the very least, completely naive ruler! Tell me I'm wrong!"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but found that he had nothing to say to that. He knew that the only reason that the Kazekage hadn't sent more people was because the information that was given to them was far from accurate. They had expected to find both sides eagerly seeking peace with an unknown third party interfering with it. Instead, it turned out that the side they had gone to help was secretly looking to assassinate Kusa's daimyo and had no real intentions for peace. If Kazekage had known that from the start, of course he would have sent more soldiers, and he was sure that the same could have been said for Konoha.

Somehow though, he didn't think that Kazuya would see things that way.

"Can't do it, can you?" he prodded. "Well good, then if you've finally seen my point, run along and let us finish what we started."

"I won't," Naruto stated firmly. "I can't just stand aside and allow you to do something that will lead to war. No matter what's happened to you, those shinobi and other innocent people who had nothing to do with it don't deserve that fate! There has to be another way of handling this!"

Kazuya's cold eyes darkened even further. "You still don't know a damn thing! An amateur like you isn't going to stop us! Kasumi and I have waited for this for ten years, and if a few mindless tools have to die for it to happen...well, so what?"

Kasumi shook her head in disbelief as the kusarigama slipped from her hand. "Kazuya, that's not what-"

"You're wrong!" Naruto shouted, finally getting his leg loose and standing up. "I absolutely refuse to believe that! There's more to being a shinobi than just being a mindless tool! Just because we're trained to follow orders doesn't mean we're not human like everyone else!"

Kazuya gave a dark laugh. "Wait ten years, do some of the things that I've had to see and do, and then see if you still think that's true. ...Of course," he added on an afterthought. "That's assuming you live that long."

As he moved his hand to the hilt of his kodachi, Kasumi grabbed his arm. "Why are you acting like this, Kazuya? We agreed that we'd protect him and his teammates, not help kill them!"

Kazuya glared at his sister, causing her to flinch before his gaze softened slightly. "Don't you get it, Kasumi? The Greenhorn's already gotten in our way and told us he's going to try stopping us from accomplishing our goal, and with all the time that we've wasted here his teammates are already as good as dead anyway. What do you think he'll tell his Kazekage if we let-?"

A low sniggering caught his attention, stopping his speech. The siblings turned to Naruto, wondering what he could possibly find humorous about the current situation.

"Don't underestimate my teammates," he warned them. "Baki-sensei wasn't lying when he said that they were the best shinobi that Suna has to offer." He moved his hand to the pouch on his leg and flicked the clasp open. "And...even if I am still a Greenhorn compared to them...you shouldn't underestimate me either!"

Without another warning, he sent four shuriken spinning toward Kazuya. The older boy sneered and unsheathed his kodachi, using the blade to effortlessly deflect all of them.

"Pathetic, just as I would have expected."

Then a small cut opened up on his cheek. Stunned, he reached up and dragged a finger over it, staring at the trace of blood on his finger before the rain washed it away.

"How?" he muttered. "I blocked them all..." His eyes widened. "So it _was_ you. You were the one who cut me when we first met! How are you doing it?"

Naruto grinned. "Baki-sensei told me something important when he first taught me that technique. He told me that weapons without form can't be blocked. He also taught me that throwing a Wind Shuriken behind a real one makes them almost impossible to notice."

_Wind...? Damnit, no wonder I didn't sense it either time. This time I was focused completely on the real shuriken, and the first time I didn't notice it because he threw it __**through**__ that twister he'd created. _The Ame man scowled in agitation. _But to actually have the control to throw a wind shuriken through another wind jutsu without it disrupting and canceling itself out is..._

He growled and re-sheathed his sword. "Touché, boy. Perhaps you're not a complete amateur after all. But you have to be more than just half-way competent to stand up to me." His hands moved and began forming seals. "I told you before that your arrogance could get you killed one day...turns out it will be sooner than even I thought."

"Kazuya!" Kasumi shouted aghast. "Don't use something like that on him!"

"Umbrella up, sister dear," he replied calmly, forming the final seal. "Suppai Ame no Jutsu!"

Naruto had been prepared for just about anything to happen from Kazuya's jutsu, but he was still taken by surprise when a sickly green cloud of smoke was expelled from his body. It drifted through the rain slowly upward, spreading out further the higher it got. Fearing poison, Naruto grabbed the neck hem of his jacket and pulled it up above his nose. He watched cautiously, kunai in hand, as his opponents both opened their umbrellas over their heads, but neither looked too worried about being poisoned.

Letting go of his jacket, he charged Kazuya, hoping to take him down before whatever his jutsu was took effect. He swiped at him twice with his kunai, but both were dodged without effort. A roundhouse kick was blocked by the flat of Kazuya's kodachi blade, which he then twisted and slashed downward. Naruto let out a cry of pain as his calf was sliced open. Dropping back, he knelt down and began tying off the wound with the ripped section of his pants leg.

At least Kasumi wasn't getting involved yet; he noticed her standing several feet back staring at him anxiously, but making no move to aid her brother. If he could just finish Kazuya off quickly maybe he could just talk things through with her. But to beat her brother, he'd have to pull out all the stops.

As he was standing back up, he became instantly aware of a burning sensation on his scalp and neck. He began scratching at it absently when the burning began spreading across his face as well. It grew more intense as it spread even faster to his hands, his arms, his-

"AAAAAHH!!" Screaming in pain, he fell to his knees, rubbing and scratching furiously all over his body. His skin hurt everywhere, like it was melting off of his body. His ears were burning, his eyes were starting to burn, his whole body was on fire. And not just his body either, because his clothes really did seem to be burning off of him.

"Dispel it, Kazuya, that's enough!" Kasumi pleaded.

Giving his sister a lazy glare, Kazuya strode over to the incapacitated boy and stared down at him mockingly. "Now maybe you'll admit to your limitations, huh Amateur?"

From his trembling fetal position, Naruto still managed a defiant glare even as tears of pain blurred his vision. "What...did you do?"

Kazuya smirked. "My Acid Rain Technique; quite literally the most tortuous jutsu an Ame shinobi can learn." He formed another seal and the green cloud high overhead dissipated. "You just be grateful that I love my sister and respect her wishes, or you'd be dead right now. Although..."

He gave Naruto a kick in the side. It wasn't very hard, but it still caused him to cry out in pain again. "After a few weeks with those burns, you'll probably be wishing that I'd killed you."

Closing his umbrella and reattaching it to his back, he gave a final snort of disgust to Naruto and gestured to Kasumi. "Let's get going, before Masamuri has a chance to escape."

----------

"They still haven't moved, sensei."

"Indeed," the jounin said distractedly. The shinobi of Suna certainly had patience, he realized. It had been nearly fifteen minutes and they were still standing in the exact same place as before. Surely they couldn't afford to wait too much longer, or else-

"Takara-sama, we've found it!"

Gai looked back, spotting one of the Kusa workers manically waving his arms above his head. Takara was instantly at his side, practically bouncing in excitement. The ninja held his hand up, which held a nugget of gold easily the size of his own clenched fist. The daimyo snatched the nugget from his hands and gazed at it in adoration while the rest of the team cheered victoriously.

"Well don't just stand there," Takara commanded impatiently. "Hurry and dig up the rest!"

With a quick salute, the group moved back to the pit, while the rest made their way over to join them.

Gai himself was growing anxious. If Suna and Ame were going to make their move, now would be the time. But turning back again, he noticed they still hadn't moved.

But now that he thought about it...they really hadn't moved at all, not so much as a shift of weight, for several minutes now.

"Neji, can you-"

"AHH! AAHHH! H-HELP! HELP ME!"

Whirling around, the team pinpointed the outburst instantly. The large group of ninja and workers was scrambling out of the pit so frantically that some were being squashed under the others in their haste. But there were three of the men still inside, unmoving as mounds of mud and sand was snaking its way up their torsos.

Lee was the first to react, dashing at a blinding speed toward the pit with Gai and Tenten right behind him. Neji paused just long enough to activate his Byakugan, directing his focus back to where the Suna group stood.

Except it wasn't the Suna group.

"Bunshins?" he said in disbelief. When had they switched out? He'd only taken his eyes off of them for a second. "Damnit, where are they?"

He found his answer seconds later, spotting the redhead, stooped over with his palms pressed to the ground on the opposite end of the meadow.

"Tenten, thirty degrees to your right!" he called.

Tenten, who had been attempting to help Lee in extracting the men from the sand traps, looked to where Neji had instructed. Spotting Gaara, she let fly two handfuls of kunai, all aimed perfectly at the boy. Still, Gaara remained motionless as a wall of sand rose to block every one of the projectiles.

"It's no good, Neji!" she stated. "That sand of his can stop all my weapons!"

"Neji, Tenten, Lee, stop him!" Gai commanded; all reservations from before long gone. "I'll help the others!"

"At once, Gai-sensei!" the jounin's young protégé yelled. He leapt from the pit and made a beeline for Gaara, with his teammates veering off and then swooping back in from the left and right to attack from the side. As they drew near, a large blast of wind suddenly kicked up, knocking an unsuspecting Lee off his feet. At the same time, Neji suddenly stopped in his advancement to dodge a small volley of needles that come from one of the trees, while Tenten reacted similarly to avoid three shuriken. Neji noticed that both the needles and the shuriken were glistening with an unknown liquid, though he didn't have to be a genius to know what it was.

As the team regrouped together, their ambushers made themselves known, as the redhead's two teammates dropped from the trees to flank him. The girl's giant fan was unfolded while a menacing looking puppet dangled from the shoulders of the boy.

The boy with the painted face grinned sardonically toward them. "No sense rushing straight to your own deaths guys, the night's still young. At least make things a little exciting for us first."

Gaara stood up and glared at his siblings. "I did not ask for you to interfere."

Temari rubbed her arm uncomfortably while Kankuro held his palms up in front of him. "H-hey now, come on, Gaara. You got to have all the fun in the last two missions. At least let Temari and I get a little exercise out here, won't ya?"

Gaara kept his hard gaze on Kankuro, who was probably unnoticeably sweating due to the rain. The younger boy looked away. "Don't get in my way."

Kankuro grinned, as did Temari. "Wouldn't dream of it, bro. So if it's all the same to you guys, I think I'll take the girl."

Temari shot him a dirty look. "With all due respect, Kankuro, I think I will be the one to fight the girl."

"Too late, I called it first," he countered.

She scoffed at him. "Why are you so set on fighting her?"

"Because I find her mildly attractive and I can't help but think that a battle with you would considerably mar her cuteness," he answered without batting an eye.

Temari found herself speechless at her brother's admission. She hated it when he said things like that because half of the time he was serious and the other half he was just screwing with her.

"Be that as it may, I think I'll still take her."

Kankuro folded his armed, pouting. "You know, it's not taboo in our line of work for guys to fight girls. Just because you're a girl doesn't mean you always have to fight the female enemies."

Tenten's eyebrow quirked. "What do you think they're talking about?" she asked her teammate. Neji just shrugged. They were speaking too low, and as powerful as his eyes were, he still couldn't read lips.

"And just because you're the weakest member of the team-" Temari continued. "-Doesn't mean-"

"Shut up both of you," Gaara growled. And they did, instantly. He stepped forward, shifting his glance to each of the three Konoha nin. "Which of you do I kill first?"

The blunt force of the question sent a chill down Tenten's spine. Lee, on the other hand, took the question as a challenge and instantly moved to face him, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait Lee," Neji said, moving next to him. He activated his kekkei genkai once again, taking one final analysis of the redhead before him. His bloodlust was profound, and he showed no visible signs of self-doubt or intention of going back on his words. Anyone who fought with this boy would most certainly be chancing death, and the same would have to be expected from his opponent.

"Let me handle him," he requested. Without waiting for a response, stepped in front of him and walked until he was a mere three feet from Gaara. The two engaged in a stare-down, neither blinking nor shifting their gaze in the slightest, daring the other to make the first move.

"Wow," Kankuro muttered, sensing the great tension coming off in waves from the two warriors. "Gaara's fighting the kid who sees ghosts. This might actually last a few minutes."

"Konoha Senpu!"

Basic shinobi instinct was all that kept the puppet master's head on his shoulders. He ducked, letting the spin kick sail harmlessly a few centimeters over his head, grazing the pointy 'cat ears' of his black hood. Kankuro took a deep breath, slowing his suddenly rapid heart-beat.

"What the hell!?" he demanded of the weirdly dressed boy that had surprised him. "Who just up and attacks someone without warning like that!?"

"..." was Lee's response.

"...Oh, right."

Lee grinned, taking his standard taijutsu stance. "You are a comrade of Uzumaki-kun, correct?"

Kankuro scratched his head. "Uzu...oh, the midget. What about him?"

"He told me of the strength of his teammates," Lee explained. "To honor you, I shall not hold back in this fight!"

Kankuro looked amused. "That so? Well, it's not in my blood to turn down a fight that I can win...though I still wish I could'a got to know that teammate of yours better," he said, muttering the last part.

"Pardon?"

"I said: If you really want to face me, you gotta get through my little buddy here first." He patted Karasu on the head, then with barely a flick of a finger, the puppet leapt from its perch and landed between its master and Lee. "Good luck with that," he added before jumping backward and disappearing into the trees.

The two kunoichi looked around at the impending battles around them.

"Guess that just leaves us, then," Tenten commented in an almost conversational manner. She reached into her pouch for another set of kunai. "And I can't just stand around and let those guys outdo me, can I?"

Temari sighed. Now that she thought about it, maybe it would have been better to let Kankuro fight this girl. She didn't look nearly as talented as her teammates, but it was too late to regret it now. She propped her battle fan up next to her and leaned against it lazily.

"Do what you gotta do."

----------

Gai gave a satisfied nod. Once he'd sent his genin over to stop the boy, the sand that had trapped the workers collapsed, releasing them and allowing them to move to safety. He'd moved Takara and the civilian diggers away from the mining site, where several shinobi had been stationed to defend them from further attacks.

Feeling that they were safe for the time being, he turned his attention back to his students. He spotted them across the meadow, engaging in battle with the young shinobi from Suna. He frowned; while he wouldn't doubt his student's abilities for anything, that sand-user still made him wary.

He hadn't made it ten steps toward them when a man appeared in front of him. He tensed up when he saw who it was.

"Let's let the children play by themselves for a while," Baki said calmly.

Gai narrowed his eyes. It seemed the kids would have to fend for themselves for a few minutes at least.

"Quite an unfortunate situation we've come into," he said, falling into his battle stance.

"Indeed," Baki agreed, also taking up position. "But just so we're clear, this is all for the sake of our mission. With luck, we'll all return to our homes alive when it's over with."

Feeling slightly relieved at his words, Gai grinned. "Yosha! If that's how it is, then yours is a challenge I'll gladly accept!"

----------

The pain that wracked his body was mind-blowing. But even as he lay there watching as the siblings began moving away, he could already feel the pain start to fade and his skin start to soothe.

**"Ready to beg yet, mortal?"**

"...I told you...I don't need your help, bastard fox!"

A beastly growl that sounded like irritation echoed within the boy's head. **"Fine, don't blame me when we both end up dead."**

"Shut up," he whispered, using his hands to push himself to his knees. "I _will_ protect my friends. And I _will_ keep my promise!"

End Chapter 10

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I'm really hoping this chapter wasn't too boring. Had to do the whole 'back-story for Ame' and 'setup for the final fight scenes', which, of course, will be taking place next time as I wrap up the Ame/Kusa Arc of the story. I also appear to be slowly making progress with my chapter length, this being my longest yet (good for me).

On another subject: College finals are going on in the next few weeks, so there won't be much writing until I'm finished with them. On the plus side, once they're done I'll have the majority of the summer to type to my heart's content, which will hopefully lead to more frequent updates like I used to do when I first started this story.

Thanks for reading.

LL


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm gonna tell you all right up front: This chapter almost caused me to quit writing this whole fic. I was very close. Seriously, I've written and rewritten this bastard of a chapter so many times that I was beginning to think that it wasn't worth it anymore. I'm still not satisfied that it's up to my own standards, but today I made the decision that this was as good as I was going to get it, and sent it out before it drove me insane. So finally, mercifully, in all of its 20K worded three month delayed glory, here is Chapter 11, the ending to the Ame vs. Kusa Arc.

----------

As the rain had finally begun to let up over the forests of Ame, the twins, Kazuya and Kasumi, bounded skillfully through the trees, the first with a look of determination on his face, the second looking very troubled.

Kazuya made it past four more trees before sensing that his sister wasn't following him anymore. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, realizing that Kasumi had not just stopped, but dropped from the branches and was now staring fixatedly on the ground. Frowning, he descended to the ground as well, coming to a stop right in front of her.

"What are you doing, Kasumi?" he questioned. It was difficult to see the expression on her face with the rain plastering her long hair against it, but he could swear that she looked saddened about something. "Come on, if we don't hurry up we might be too late!"

Kasumi brushed the sheet of hair away, letting Kazuya see exactly how troubled she really looked.

"Brother..." she began, struggling to keep her emotions in check. "Why didn't...why didn't you ever tell me you felt this way?"

Kazuya's brow furrowed. He looked down, not daring to look her in the eye. "I don't know what you mean. If this is about what I did to that Amateur, I left him alive like you wanted."

She shook her head. "No, not just what you did to him, but also what you said to him."

Kazuya noticed that Kasumi's hands were trembling as she clasped them together over her chest. "Sis..."

"All those things you said about not caring if Kusa and Ame destroyed each other and all their citizens dying, is that really how you feel now?"

Kazuya flinched and turned completely away from her. "That's...not something that you need to worry about."

"Kazuya!" she shouted, her tone bordering on desperation. "How can you say that? You're my brother and you're wishing the death of people who weren't responsible for our pain! How can I not worry about that?!"

He remained silent, still refusing to look at her. Kasumi's body drooped. "Brother, talk to me," she pleaded. "All we've ever talked about before has been killing Masamuri and Takara. How long have you been holding this hatred for so many others who honestly did nothing to us?"

Kasumi could see Kazuya's eyes narrow and his jaw tighten as he tried in vain to suppress his anger. "That's the just the point, Kasumi. They all did _nothing_."

Kasumi tried to respond but he wasn't finished. "Before and during the attack yes, I admit that was all Masamuri and Takara's fault. But what about after the attack? After the bandits were gone and there was no more danger; why did no one come to offer any sort of support even then?"

Kasumi could do nothing but shrug. "I don't-"

"How many days did it take us to give everyone proper burials? God, there were more people dead than there were still alive at the time! Are we to believe that the people of Kusa and Ame needed their leader's permission to assist us with that?

"How many months did it take us to rebuild everything that had been destroyed or burned down? Was it too much to ask that more than the occasional two or three construction workers stopped by to lend us a hand? How many _years_ has our home had to suffer in poverty and starvation because neither village could seem to afford sending any extra food or money to us?"

He paused for a second, appearing to be listening for something, then shook his head. "There were so many things that any of those people could have done...just the simplest of things to let us know that they actually cared about what happened to us and what we'd gone through, but they did nothing. They all did nothing." He slammed his fist into the tree trunk that he stood next to before stepping forward until he was directly in front of his twin. He stared deeply into her eyes. "We already know that war won't be avoided. It's a fact just waiting to happen now. Is it really so horrible for me to wish the same fate upon them that happened to us, so that they might feel our pain and realize exactly what we had to go through? Does that really make me such an evil person?"

Kasumi, for the first time in her life, felt a twinge of fear course through her as she stared back at her brother's hardened eyes. The warmth and kindness that had always been there every other time she looked at them had completely vanished, leaving nothing but a cold, empty hatred in its place. He didn't even feel like her own brother anymore.

But nonetheless, she still shook her head. "No brother, you're not evil. I could never think that of you. I just wish that you had told me about this years ago instead of keeping it locked up inside you. I could have helped you-"

Kazuya stopped her by pressing a finger to her lips. "You've been helping me for the last ten years, Kasumi. I'd have been driven insane by my anger a long time ago if not for you, but this is my burden, and once it's all over with... But enough of that now, we don't have time. If we don't move now we'll miss our chance. You do still want this, don't you?"

Kasumi dimmed, wondering if Kazuya even realized that he was sounding pretty insane right now. She reached out and pulled her brother's hand into her own, giving it a tight squeeze as she nodded. "Yes, you're right. Let's go."

"Hold it."

Both twins' head's jerked around, spotting a ragged figure pushing through the brush of trees into the opening with them.

"You..." Kasumi stammered. Kazuya could only stare, completely dumbfounded.

"You know," Naruto stated through heavy breaths. He gestured down to his body, where the blisters and red rashes left by Kazuya's earlier technique could be seen slowly growing fainter through his ruined outfit. "These clothes were expensive...and I really liked them."

----------

The Pride of Suna

By Legendary Legacy

A Naruto fic

Standard disclaimer still applies.

Chapter 11

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The stare down between the Ame twins and Suna genin lasted only a few seconds more before Kazuya absolutely exploded.

"You little FOOL!" he bellowed, causing his sister to stumble away from him in surprise. "I actually spared your life, and you dare show your thanks by trying to stand in our way yet again! Not even the biggest of amateurs would be that stupid! What in the hell is wrong with you!?"

The boy in question grinned weakly. "I guess I'm just not very smart."

A snarl escaped Kazuya's throat as he unsheathed his kodachi.

"Brother-"

"NO! No more mercy for this fool! If he's really that set on throwing his life away here, then I've got no problem being the one to do it!"

"I won't die. Not while my friends are in danger."

The twins froze in uncertainty. That voice had been Naruto's, but the boy standing before them hadn't said it. Then they saw it: A second Naruto, looking just as tattered and angry as the first, making its way through the brush into the clearing.

Kazuya laughed. "Bunshins, that's your trump card?"

"Your sister is right, you know?"

This time the voice came from above them, and they looked up to see three more Naruto's standing on branches. Kazuya's frown continued to deepen. "What are you babbling about?" he asked the original Naruto.

Naruto dropped his gaze to the ground. "About how nothing that has happened to you being the fault of those people, and how you're being controlled by your own hate."

"Don't even start with me, Amateur! You know nothing about it!"

He nodded. "I may not know exactly how it feels to have your family and friends killed right in front of you...but I do know how it feels to be hated for something that I had no control over; And how it felt to hate them all back."

While her brother wasn't looking it, Kasumi was feeling a bout of unease rise up inside her. The five Narutos' had been joined by ten more, and it was impossible to tell if there were more to come or not. It wasn't just the number of bunshins that the boy had created, though; any mid to high-level genin could make as many. The real problem was that ordinary bunshins were almost never capable of independent speech and movement. She had to wonder whether Naruto was just overly proficient in the art of Bunshins that he could control them so well, or whether they were all more than just normal clones.

But one thing was for sure: For all of Kazuya's talk, she had a good feeling that Naruto wasn't the amateur that he appeared to be.

"All my life, I watched people scowl at me with cold, hate-filled eyes. Anyone who didn't yell at me, insult me or try to hit me just completely ignored me. I could never figure out why everyone treated me like that, and I hated them for it for a long time. Then when I finally did find out why, it made me hate them even more. Even though it was only for a moment, I really wanted them all to feel the pain that they'd given me.

"But when it came down to it, I couldn't do it. I realized that they weren't really who I should be angry at, they were just the easiest for me to blame. I ended up running instead. No matter how horrible I was treated by them, I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had killed any of them. And I'm glad I didn't, because even if none of them cared about me, I know that deep down they were still good people."

Kazuya snorted. "You keep spewing all of this crap at me knowing full well that I don't give a damn about you or your sob story, right? If anything, I sympathize with the rest of them. Hell, I've only known you for a few hours and I hate you, too."

"You just don't get it, do you?" all the Naruto's questioned at once.

Kazuya held strong, not letting the boy's mind games affect his judgment. "I understand perfectly. I know that you're a coward who'd rather run than deal with your problems. Well make no mistake, I'm not you and I know that I am ready to fight against mine. Ame and Kusa brought this whole thing upon themselves a long time ago-"

"Wrong," the first Naruto spoke again. "You are like me. You're angry at the wrong people because they're the only people available for you to be angry with."

Kazuya's jaw clenched tightly.

"Naruto," Kasumi finally spoke up. "Don't make things-"

"I think I realized something after hearing that story that you told me earlier," Naruto stated. "You may be right in getting revenge on Takara and Masamuri, that's plain to see. But the people that you really want revenge on are the bandits that attacked you. That's one of the reasons you became shinobi in the first place, so you could have the opportunity to hunt for them, right? Unfortunately, you've been shinobi of Ame for ten years now and you still haven't been able to track them down, have you? If you had found them and managed to get your revenge on them, things never would have had to come this far, would they?"

"Shut the Hell up, Amateur!"

"So since you can't get your revenge on the bandits, you're trying to take your anger out on someone else. You find any reason to justify yourself for it even though you know in your heart that they're innocent. But then, what if you do succeed in destroying both Ame and Kusa through this war? That doesn't get you what you really want, and it does nothing to honor the memory of all the people in your village who were killed. You'll still have hate in your heart and you'll just look for someone else to blame for it!"

That was the final straw, as Kazuya let out a snarl of rage and charged Naruto. Kasumi yelled something to him but whatever it was didn't register through the cloud of fury. He closed the distance between himself and Naruto in an instance, the blade of the kodachi glinted sharply through the rain before being embedded in Naruto's chest.

Except it was the wrong Naruto, and the clone that had jumped in front of the intended boy poofed out of existence. Undaunted, Kazuya slashed again, and again a sacrificial Naruto copy disappeared.

As if by a signal, the remaining Naruto's jumped into the fray in an attempt to overwhelm the Ame ninja. Kazuya moved like a man possessed, dodging, twisting, lunging and slashing at everything that moved around him. The deadly dance lasted all of fifteen seconds before the blond army was reduced to one.

Kazuya spun the kodachi in his hand, grinning predatorily. "An army of amateurs is just as useless as one against a real shinobi."

Naruto grinned back, and formed a hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" In a cloud of smoke, another wave of clones filled the area.

Kasumi looked on in wonder. "That's impossible. No one could make that many solid clones at one time!"

Kazuya was impressed, despite himself, but his anger covered it well. "Still such an amateur. If all your clones couldn't touch me the first time, what makes you think they'll do any better the second time?"

Naruto just kept grinning, and formed another seal. "Henge!"

Another cloud of smoke, and when this one cleared, the twins got an even bigger surprise.

"What the hell is this?" Kazuya demanded.

Where only a moment ago stood dozens of tatter-clothed Narutos now stood two dozen identical copies of Kazuya and two dozen more copies of Kasumi. Each Kazuya clone unsheathed their kodachi and took up a stance exactly like the one the real Kazuya had used before.

Kasumi silently sized up the situation. Her hand gripped the scythe handle of her kusarigama, and flinched uncomfortably as the horde of Kasumi clones mimicked her action.

_He's trying to confuse us_, she deducted. _He's banking on the hope that neither of us will attack for fear of accidentally hitting each other. But there's a flaw with that tactic..._

Kazuya chuckled darkly, having come to the same conclusion as his sister. "Don't be fooled, Kasumi!" he called to the crowd, not being sure which girl was his real sister. "Just destroy your copies and I'll destroy mine. Got it?"

To his irritation, not one, but all of the Kasumi's gave a word of affirmation, then stared among each other in apprehension. He grunted. The kid was still trying to screw with them. He was confident enough to not get caught up in his games, but he wasn't so certain about Kasumi. She was already filled with doubt before Naruto showed up, and her uncertainty was just going to make her all the more easy to fluster.

If that were going to be the case, then he would just have to take the initiative.

Twirling his short blade, he dove into the pack of clones, dispatching three of them in the blink of an eye. Adjusting his hold on the weapon, he sunk the tip into the stomach of another. Two of the clones charged him; their own kodachi's raised to meet him. He parried both attackers, and in one fluid motion slashed through one while planting a heel kick into the other's face. Both vanished with an audible 'pop'.

Kazuya found his already high resentment of Naruto growing even further. The amateur dared to assume his form, yet even a whole swarm of them couldn't put up a decent fight. It was rather insulting...

He heard several more 'pops' starting up, knowing that Kasumi had finally begun her own attacks. The hooked blade of her scythe flashed again and again in the dimly lit forest while the weighted end of the long chain twisted and soared about in the girl's masterful hands. Kasumi clones began falling just as quickly as the Kazuya clones.

A sense of unsettlement hit him. While he had been watched after Kasumi, not a single clone had attacked him. He hadn't even sensed any danger to himself from any of them. Bringing his full attention back to that matter, he was stunned to find that the clones had begun fighting amongst themselves, as they continued to snuff each other out with their own attacks.

Kazuya couldn't help but laugh. The fool had been hoping to confuse them, but he hadn't even been able to keep track of which Kazuya he really was. Now they were the ones striking blindly in a desperate attempt to find him.

"Truly pitiful," he muttered.

He calmly watched the display a while longer before his eyes narrowed in puzzlement. The clones weren't actually attacking blindly, they were all ganging up on one clone, and it was that one clone that was slaying them all on his own. That's when it dawned on him.

_He's still pretending to be me. By killing the clones himself, he wants to confuse Kasumi into coming after me!_ He smirked. _It's still hopeless. Kasumi knows my fighting style just as well as her own. She'll see through your feeble charade in an instant._

That thought had barely crossed his mind when an even more startling revelation appeared.

_He's using my fighting style! But that's impossible! He's only seen me use it twice, how could he copy it so closely that soon?_

The Ame nin had really grown unsettled now. This boy that he labeled an amateur was turning into quite the magician. How many more tricks did the boy have up his sleeve?

None, as far as he was concerned, because just like he had done before, the amateur had made a mistake.

His dark grin reappeared. Kasumi wasn't watching them anyway; she was too tied up with getting rid of her own clones. The fool could pretend to be him all he wanted, she would see none of it. And if he were dumb enough to destroy all the clones that he had made, it would just wear him out and make it much simpler for him to kill him when it was over. Smirking widely, he crouched down to wait for his opportunity.

Naruto frowned. Kazuya wasn't taking the bait. When he saw Kazuya realize that he was copying his fighting style, he'd expected him to run in and try to finish him off quickly. That wasn't the case...he'd have to come up with something else.

He felt sorry for involving Kasumi with his ploy. She appeared truly reluctant about this whole thing in comparison to her brother. She had stopped Kazuya from killing him with his Acid Rain and had tried to talk him out of his crazy plan. But Kazuya was too headstrong, and it seemed that not even his own sister could talk any sense into him now. If he could just beat Kazuya...

Kasumi sunk her scythe into the arm of another mirror image of herself, her body relaxing ever so slightly in relief when it disappeared in a cloud of smoke like the ones before it. She had no desire whatsoever to kill the boy, and as such was aiming for non-vital parts of the body. She already felt terrible enough about what they'd done to the rest of his team; she didn't want to go even lower by killing the boy when he was, like them, just trying to do what he thought was right.

Though, ever since Kazuya's unexpected revelations, she no longer felt that they were trying to do was right. Unfortunately, this late into the plan, she had no way of stopping it on her own. Kazuya had already shown that he was dead-set on pushing forward no matter what happened, and try as she might, she just couldn't turn her back on the only real family she had left. What was she supposed to do?

Knocking away the last of her own clones and not having found the real Naruto, she turned to the other side, expecting him to be dead at Kazuya's feet. She got a surprise at seeing that Kazuya was still fighting. He had always been a better fighter than her, he should have finished long before she had. But there were still three clones attacking him, and-

No, there was a fourth! He was standing only a few feet away from the battling clones, his kodachi raised and looking ready to strike the moment that Kazuya left an opening.

Still torn between what was right and what might not be right, she did the only thing she could.

Kazuya readied himself. Two clones and the real one left...he would strike the moment the last clone vanished.

Then the chain of Kasumi's kusarigama whipped around his chest, tightly binding the upper portions of his arms to his side and causing him to drop his kodachi in surprise.

"No Kasumi!" he bellowed, nearly causing her to drop the chain.

"Good work, Kasumi! Just hold him down now!" he heard his copy say. Having finished the final clone, he dashed toward the tied up Kazuya, blade in hand.

Time seemed to slow down, and a hundred different thoughts flew through Kazuya's head as he saw Naruto charge him.

_He's nothing but an amateur! I can't lose here! Not to him, not when we're so close to fulfilling our goal! How could he have fooled Kasumi? Damnit, why did he have to interfere? We already might be too late to stop Masamuri! _

He shot a glance at his feet where his sword lay. The way Kasumi had herself braced he couldn't even bend to grab it. ...On the other hand, he could still reach his...

_No! Kasumi's too close; she'd be hit too! _

_But if I don't the fool's going to kill me! _

_There's no time left!_

He grasped the umbrella from his lower back. _Forgive me, Sister!_ Eyes tightly shut, he flung the black umbrella high overhead. "Yorozu-Hari no Ame!"

The umbrella snapped itself open and immediately began spewing forth thousands of long, thin needles in a wide circle around Kazuya. In her shock, Kasumi dropped her chain and reached for her own umbrellas, but was far too slow. Skidding to a halt, the phony Kazuya went on pure instinct and curled into a ball, covering his head and neck with his arms.

Both boy and girl screamed in pain as their bodies were pierced a hundred times over by the rain of needles. When the needles stopped falling, they collapsed to the ground. Kasumi lay motionless, while the fallen Kazuya transformed back to Naruto, whose back was now so heavily covered in needles that he resembled a blond porcupine.

In a daze, Kazuya ran to his sister, moving across the patch of needles sticking out of the ground as though they weren't there. Kneeling down beside her, he carefully rolled her to her back and cradled her in his arms. Studying her closely, he was relieved to see that her head and neck area had been spared of most of the needles, but the rest of her body hadn't been so fortunate.

"Kasumi," he whispered softly, causing the girl's eyes to flutter open. "I'm so sorry. I never...this wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Kazuya," she managed to force out. "You..."

Kazuya's head shot up when he heard a soft groan from behind him. He turned, and saw that Naruto was painfully making his way back to his feet. A new level of blazing hatred appeared on his face as he set Kasumi softly on the ground and stood up. Kasumi tried to protest what he was doing, but the pain she was in was clouding her mind too much for her to think straight.

Kazuya walked to the edge of the area and picked up his discarded kodachi, then he stalked his way toward Naruto, who had barely made it to his hands and knees. He was so fixated on his target that he didn't even realize that he was speaking hysterically to himself.

"Death is too good for you. If it took me the rest of my life I wouldn't be able to torture you enough for this!" He bent down and seized Naruto by the throat, lifting him off his feet. "Damn you to Hell! How dare you make me do that to my own sister!"

Naruto futilely pulled at Kazuya's iron grip, trying to get air into his lungs. "Didn't...make...you..."

His grip tightened even further as his eyes burned with insanity. "IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! WHY DO YOU KEEP INTERFERING WITH US?! WHY COULDN'T YOU LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE?!" He raised the kodachi high above his head. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?!"

Poof!

Kazuya's body was pulled backward as a large weight suddenly appeared on his raised hand, pulling it down hard behind him. The unexpected shift caused him to release his hold on Naruto as he tried to prevent himself from falling over.

"How long are you going to keep blaming everyone else for everything that happens to you?" a familiar voice asked, causing his blood to run cold. His head jerked back and, to his utter bewilderment, came face to face with yet another Uzumaki Naruto.

In his current mental condition, all he could do was stare. All rational thought was completely gone. Too far gone to realize that for some odd reason his kodachi had seemingly vanished from his hand. Too far gone to comprehend how he could repeatedly be taken by surprise by the boy. And too far gone to bother avoiding the fist that impacted against his jaw.

As the Ame nin staggered from the blow, the clone helped the original Naruto back to his feet. He brushed aside the pain he was in and, together with his clone, formed a set of seals.

"Tatsumaki Shouheki!" they shouted as one, driving their fists into the earth.

The combined winds kicked up a vortex so powerful that the unsuspecting Kazuya was blown off his feet, where he was then slammed head first into the trunk of a large tree.

The wind died down and Kazuya slumped to the ground, his eyes already glazing over as he stared through double vision at the boys standing tall before him.

"Beaten...by that...amateur?" he whispered as darkness began to overtake him. "How did I...become so...pathetic...?"

Naruto didn't relax his stance until he saw Kazuya's head drop into unconsciousness. When it did, he let out of ragged sigh and fell to his knees while his clone disappeared. With the fight over and his adrenaline wearing off, he realized just how much pain he was really in. His blistering skin still wasn't fully healed from the Acid Rain, and was now screaming in pain, protesting every movement he made. His back was bleeding profusely due to the strong wind from his jutsu forcefully ripping out a good share of the needles that had been embedded there. But above all else, he was exhausted.

However, there was no time for rest yet. There was still a war that needed stopping and teammates and friends that were in danger. Not to mention putting a stop to Masamuri.

Groaning, he began staggering to his feet when he spotted Kasumi slowly crawling to her brother. He stumbled toward her just as she reached him. Naruto noticed that all the needles were gone from Kasumi's body, and aside from the puncture wounds left behind, she appeared to be in a stable condition.

He stood there for several moments, watching as Kasumi silently wept with Kazuya's head positioned in her lap.

"I'm really sorry about all this, Kasumi-neechan," he said softly.

She shook her head. "Don't apologize, Naruto. Before today, I had never seen Kazuya act the way he has. I could tell that he had slowly grown colder and more spiteful in the last few years, but after seeing him like this, I think this is something that needed to happen. If you hadn't stopped us from doing this, I can't even imagine what might have become of him."

Naruto frowned. "Maybe, but still..."

Kasumi brushed at her eyes before looking up at him. "Don't waste time talking with me, Naruto. Your team is still fighting out there."

"But what about you?" he asked in concern.

"We'll be fine. I'm proficient in a few medical jutsus that will sustain us until we can get to a hospital." She paused, looking thoughtful. "Naruto, let me mend your back."

"No, you should save your chakra for yourselves," he protested.

"Please Naruto," she insisted. She moved Kazuya's head from her lap and stood up. "I know that it's no way of repenting for what my brother and I have put you through, but it is the least that I can do for now."

Naruto wanted to protest further, but the pain in his back was something that he wouldn't be able to deal with if there was still more fighting to come. Reluctantly, he turned and presented his bloodied back to Kasumi, who placed her hands flat against it.

"This will only take a moment," she told him.

They both closed their eyes and, true to her word, Naruto instantly felt a wave of cool relief cascade through his body. A few seconds later, the feeling was gone, and the pain along with it. He tested himself by bending his arms and back in various directions, pleased to find that even the burn marks weren't nearly as bad as before.

"Thanks, Kasumi-neechan," he said, giving her a warm smile, which she returned.

"I wish there was more that I could do...even if it were as little as getting you some new clothes," she added, taking in the sad looking ragged remains of cloth that were basically hanging off his body. Naruto stared at himself, letting out a weak chuckle. Kasumi, however, remained solemn. "Please stop them, Naruto. After seeing all that you've done so far, I know you can. ...And tell your team that I'm sorry for deceiving them like this."

Naruto nodded firmly. "I promise," he said with as much resolve as he could. "Thanks again, Kasumi."

As he started to leave and Kasumi was returning her attention to her brother, a realization struck her. "Naruto wait!"

"What's wrong?"

"I need to tell you about Masamuri's kekkei genkai."

----------

Temari was feeling incredibly let down. The Konoha girl was definitely not what she had hoped for when the fighting began. It seemed the only thing she was good at was chucking weapons. Granted, if Temari wasn't the wind specialist that she was, she might have found a lot more challenge in trying to dodge the highly accurate barrage of deadly projectiles.

As her opponent paused in her assault, probably realizing that her best strategy was proving to be futile against her, Temari took a moment to check on her brothers.

Kankuro had gone with his basic tactic of hiding in a tree while he used Karasu to fight the boy in spandex out in the open. The boy was putting up quite a fight, but was so far unsuccessful in locating the puppeteer.

A little more disconcerting than that was Gaara, who still had yet to move a muscle against his equally stone-bodied opponent. Temari had an idea of why Gaara was waiting; with the rain about to stop it would make his sand much easier to manipulate in a fight. But still, the fact that Gaara had yet to make a single move against his enemy, even with the rain hindering his skills, spoke volumes for the ability of the white-eyed Konoha boy.

And what had happened to Naruto? The last time she had seen him was when Gaara threw him out of the meeting hall and the boy in spandex had chased after him. Surely he had gotten away? Maybe he had met up with Kasumi and Kazuya and gone back with them to Ame for their reinforcements. Though it was equally likely that he'd been attacked by Kusa ninja. Wherever he was, he'd better be okay.

Danger senses kicked in and she distractedly swung her fan again, seeing five more shuriken fall harmlessly before her, joining the multitude of other sharp objects that already littered the area. She was about to make a snide remark about the girl's overused technique when she noticed two tiny puncture holes in her fan. Temari frowned; apparently that last try had come closer to her than she'd thought. She'd have to finish with this girl before letting her mind wander again.

Tenten cursed her ill fortune. How could it have happened that she should end up fighting against someone who was able to render all of her attacks completely useless? What made it even worse was that the blonde girl wasn't even fighting back. She had done nothing more than stand in place and wave her fan every time she threw a weapon at her, then toss back a few biting comments and promises of pain if she kept this up.

Disheartened, but not yet defeated, she opened a pocket on her pink vest and reached for the two scrolls that set inside.

"My turn," Temari announced. Too unprepared to react, Tenten could only watch as she opened her fan to its maximum size and swung it in a steep, upwards arch. A powerful blast of wind hit her from below and shot her into the air. The second her feet left the ground, Temari charged forward, snapped her fan closed and leapt up to meet her.

As Tenten fought to steady her body, she saw Temari rising toward her. In an act of desperation, she tried to grab a weapon from her holster, but was fully aware that she'd be too late.

Giving her body a mid-air twist, Temari allowed the weight of her fan to increase her spin, and then brought it around again like she were swinging of a bat, and connected solidly with Tenten's stomach. She watched with satisfaction as the girl's body was sent crashing into the trees below.

----------

Becoming a true puppet master was no mean feat. You couldn't imagine how difficult it was to learn how to control a full-bodied, multi-limbed humanoid object that could both disassemble itself as well as reshape itself to conform to its own many hidden weapons, all with the use of just one hand.

Or with one finger, in the case of someone like Chiyo-sama. Even Kankuro still hadn't learned how she managed to pull that off.

But once you got the hang of it, there was no easier way of fighting. Case in point: While his fashion-challenged opponent ran, jumped, dodged and worked himself into a small frenzy trying to disable the nightmarish Karasu, Kankuro was leisurely reclining on a tree branch, wishing he had a magazine to read.

Well, perhaps he was getting a little too comfortable in his safety role. Karasu's body had taken some mighty big dents from the blows that the boy had landed, but nothing that a night of careful maintenance couldn't fix. Worse than that though was that the boy wasn't wearing himself out; He'd been fighting the puppet for over five minutes nonstop and he didn't even look like he was breathing hard.

Lee dodged another large needle fired from the doll's mouth, rolled along the soaked ground and landed another hard kick to its body. The hit sent the puppet sprawling in a limp pile, but it was only a second later that it staggered back to its feet like a zombie rising from its grave. Unrelenting, Lee charged again, raining a series of punches to its head and upper body. Karasu's four arms rose to defend itself. Kankuro pulled on the chakra strings, trying to pull the puppet out of Lee's reach, but as he did the taijutsu specialist reached out, gripped two of the arms just below the shoulders and, with a mighty pull, ripped them both from their sockets.

Grinning at his small victory, Lee tossed the arms away and called out to Kankuro. "Your puppet manipulation is impressive, but I will not be beaten by it! Tell me, will you still be able to fight after your puppet has been completely disabled?"

Kankuro smirked. _Nice try, Moe, but you're not gonna lure me out with taunts. Besides, you may think you know my weaknesses, but you still don't know all of my strengths_.

He gave a small wag of his ring and pinky fingers and, unbeknownst to Lee, the two severed arms of Karasu silently rose into the air, producing twin blades from their sockets in the process. He curled his fingers up, and the blades flew toward Lee's back. "Game over."

"Lee, duck!"

Lee followed the command before he was even aware who had given it, and the bladed arms sailed harmlessly over his head before floating back to Karasu and reattaching themselves to their owner.

Kankuro frowned. From his position in the tree, he could see the bodies of his brother and the other boy from Konoha. The warning had come from him, he was certain, but at the same time, it couldn't have come from him. He was staring in the complete opposite direction of where he and Lee were fighting. If Lee hadn't sensed the danger he was in, how could the other guy have possibly known?

"Quit fooling around, Lee!" the boy continued without bothering to turn around to face his teammate. "Tenten is struggling already, finish with that one and go assist her! He's hiding in the tree to your right!"

Kankuro's jaw fell open. "How in the fu-?"

He didn't get to finish before Lee's foot connected with his chest, rocketing him from his perch and into the trunk of another tree. His body slid to the ground where he fought with the dizziness that was clouding his vision. He could swear that at least three of his ribs were now cracked, and strangely enough, that gave him a small sense of pride in knowing that he had built Karasu with enough durability to withstand multiple kicks of that force. Shame that he himself wasn't so tough...

Grunting in pain, he began pushing himself back to his feet. He may have been hurting to high Hell, but he'd be damned if he were the only one on his team to lose. At the very least, Temari had to go down first.

Then something fell out of the sky, plowing right into him and sending him back into the trunk of the tree.

His eyes watered from the pain in his chest, blurring his vision of what hit him, though he imagined it had been the bug-eyed boy not waiting for him to catch his breath. But that didn't explain why he was still laying on top of him.

He groaned, blinking the blurriness from his eyes. "Dirty, cheap-shot taking, son of...oh."

He realized with some amount of surprise that the person that had hit him was the Konoha girl who had been stuck fighting Temari. From the looks of her, she was unconscious.

"Well, Happy Birthday, Kankuro," he muttered with a sly grin. "Jeez, I told Temari not to be so rough."

Then the girl began to stir. She opened her eyes, and nearly screamed as the painted face of Kankuro came into view. It didn't help that his paint had run terribly in the rain, washing the intricate purple designs into ugly runny streaks. Pain temporarily forgotten, Tenten scurried away, a pair of kunai magically appearing in her hands.

"Well, I guess that's gratitude for you," the puppet master muttered sardonically. "Last time I ever sacrifice my own body to help someone."

Tenten eyed him suspiciously. What did he expect her to do? Apologize for his teammate knocking her into him?

"You know, you're even prettier up close," Kankuro commented. The highly unexpected compliment caused her cheeks to redden slightly.

"What are you talking about?" she sputtered.

Kankuro gave her a cheeky grin. "Modest, huh? That's nice. ...So tell me, you doing anything after the battle?"

Tenten stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "You're asking me, a complete stranger and, more importantly, someone who's fighting on the opposing team of you, on a date after we get done trying to kill each other?"

"Totally romantic, isn't it?" His grin grew wider. "It's got that whole Romeo and Juliet thing going for it. Two children of rival armies meet and fall head over heels for each other, and even though their families would never approve of it, their love pulls through in the end."

"Romeo and Juliet both commit suicide in the end," Tenten pointed out dryly.

"But they never stopped loving each other, did they?" Kankuro retaliated. "So what do you say? I saw this nice looking restaurant back in Ame that we could-."

Tenten cut him off. "As tempted as I am, I'm going to have to decline. I just can't see myself dating a guy who wears more make-up than I do."

The puppet master's eye twitched and he barely bit back a nasty retort. "Fiery, I like that," he said with a grimace. _What the Hell is with all the Konoha people making fun of my face paint?_

"I'm leaving now," she announced. Kankuro sighed as she walked away, noticing her pull two scrolls from her vest pocket before she vanished from sight.

"So much for finding a cute foreign girl who doesn't already know how psychotic the rest of my family is... Oh well, if Temari doesn't kill her I can still try again later."

Lee dropped from the tree branch where he'd been watching the exchange from and raised his right hand in front of him. "I commend you for sacrificing your own body to protect that of my teammate even while in the heat of battle as we are."

Kankuro smirked. "Well at least someone cares. If you could put in a good word to her for me I'd appreciate it." He glanced behind Lee, where Karasu lay limp on the ground. The chakra strings had been cut, now it would take a few seconds to stretch them back to it without Lee noticing.

"Uzumaki-kun was very astute in his acclamation of his teammates. The flames of youth burn brightly in Suna as well!"

Kankuro had no comment for that.

"Shall we begin our battle anew, then?" Lee asked, reassuming his stance. "This time, I will give you everything I have."

The puppet master stole another glance behind Lee where his chakra lines had finally reattached themselves to Karasu. He gave them a tug to make sure, and Karasu sprung to its feet. He smirked; this would be easy enough now.

"Bring it on," he challenged as Karasu flew forward, preparing to wrap Lee in its constricting limbs.

Unfortunately, Karasu didn't even come close, for Lee chose that same moment to spring forward himself, crouch down before Kankuro, and deliver a brutal kick that not only snapped the boy's head back, but lifted him high into the air.

He was still seeing stars when Lee appeared behind him, following his trajectory so perfectly it was like he'd become the boy's shadow. As soon as they reached the end of their upward momentum, a long stream of bandages began wrapping themselves around Kankuro's body. Without thinking, he swung his hand that was still connected to Karasu up, freeing it a split second before the constricting bandages tightened around him, rendering him completely immobile.

Unconcerned that Kankuro's arm was free, Lee grasped him and heaved backward, causing them both to start falling back to the ground headfirst. He then twisted hard to the right, pulling his prisoner with him until they were both spinning like a top.

Finally thinking clearly enough to realize the situation he was in, Kankuro tried futilely to break free. "Let go, damnit!" he demanded.

"No, sorry," was Lee's reply.

Kankuro's mind raced. This was definitely going to hurt. There was only one thing left to try. With a flick of the wrist, Karasu flew toward them and wrapped its four long arms and legs around both boys' bodies. He smirked triumphantly. "Now let go, or you'll get it too."

"I can handle it," Lee stated calmly.

"That's not the answer I'm looking for here!" He looked toward the ground, which was coming at them like a spiraling freight train now. Cursing helplessly, he squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the impact.

The trio landed with the force of a small meteor, kicking up a sheet of mud, water and rock debris in the air.

----------

Hyuga Neji didn't like it, but it seemed that he was going to have to be the one to make the first move. It wasn't something that he liked to do often, preferring instead to lure his opponents into an attack and then penetrate their open defenses from there. But the sand manipulator wasn't moving an inch, almost as though he were stalling; waiting for conditions to somehow turn in his favor. If that was the case, then the Hyuga prodigy had no choice but to strike fast. Lee and Tenten had both decided that it was necessary to pull out their best techniques against their own opponents. If they were that desperate already, then he was going to have to do something as well. After all, he was fighting with the most dangerous member of the Suna team; he had no doubt about that.

_Below!_

Neji pivoted and sprang to the side, the large spike of sand that had jutted out of the ground beneath him missing by inches. Now in motion, he leapt for Gaara, aiming for the dozens of tenketsu across the boy's body.

Gaara stood his ground firmly while a wall of sand rose to halt Neji's initial strike. With one hand stuck in the sand, Neji swiped with his other palm, brushing the sand away and striking for his body again. Thus was developed a pattern of Neji attacking, the sand defending, and Neji breaking through to attack again. Unrelenting as he was, he still couldn't keep the sand at bay long enough to land a blow on Gaara.

Gaara lifted one hand and sent the large wall of sand crashing into Neji, tossing him backward. Neji had barely managed to keep his footing before being smothered beneath a second wave of sand. The sand twisted and tightened around the struggling boy, then lifted him into the air. Gaara watched it rise, feeling a bit disappointed at how easily even this opponent with the demonic eyes had fallen before him.

Then the sand simply melted off, falling into a pile on the ground and allowing Neji to drop to his feet as well. Caught off guard for the first time in quite a while, Gaara brought up both hands, hoping to trap him again before he could escape, but was astounded when the sand on the ground beneath his enemy refused to respond to him.

Taking advantage of his opponent's plight, Neji flew forward again, and Gaara felt something he hadn't felt in nearly six years: Panic.

He took one step back and again swung both arms in front of him, sending twin snaking lines of sand from his gourd. The sand bore down on the charging Hyuga, but the graceful warrior managed to dodge, sidestep and deflect them both. His hands slashed through the streams of sand with the ease of a shark traveling through water, and slowly he closed the distance between himself and Gaara.

Gaara involuntarily stepped back again, constantly clenching and twisting his fists, bringing more and more sand to life to crush his foe. He still couldn't understand why his sand was failing him the way it was. All the sand that touched the boy seemed to have the chakra drained out of it, making it nearly impossible for him to manipulate.

Despite that, he was beginning to feel an all-to-familiar excitement rouse up within him: the feeling of Him waking up. He had caught a taste of Gaara's own second of panic and, in His intrigue, now wanted to join the battle to claim the worthy foe as his own. He was going to want blood. A lot of blood.

The ground shuddered around them, as sand began separating from the mud and rock below. To onlookers, Neji appeared to have his eyes locked on the boy before him, but he still saw the tactic that was being used against him. The sand particles were gathering around him in the shape of a large sphere, and would try to close in on him all at once, making it impossible for him to stop it all before getting crushed.

A deadly tactic...if it were being used on anyone else.

A grin split across Gaara's face. He clasped both hands together and pulled them to his stomach. "Sabaku Sosu!"

"Kaiten!" Neji shouted at the same time. The Hyuga prodigy began spinning like a miniature cyclone as the dome of sand bore down on him from all sides. For a moment, the first bits of sand clung to the boy, trying to hold him still long enough for the rest of the sand to finish the kill. Neji gave a low groan of effort and managed to increase his speed even further, effectively keeping every last grain of sand out of his small barrier. He continued until the sand dome grew thin and, still spinning, pushed off the ground and burst through it. He landed a foot away from Gaara, already set into his stance before he had even finished spinning.

"Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" he shouted, driving both index and middle fingers into the boy's chest. "Two!"

Gaara grunted but held his ground.

"Four! Eight! Sixteen! Thirty-two!" Blow after blow rained down until his hands were nothing but a blur. "Sixty-four!"

The final blow knocked Gaara back, his feet digging into the ground. His body sagged as deep, ragged breaths escaped his body.

The feeling of triumph didn't even set in before Neji knew that something was wrong. Closing off so many of his opponent's tenketsu should have ended the fight, but not only was Gaara still standing, but there was still sand floating around him.

Then his Byakugan picked something up. The boy's skin was starting to crack open all over his body. ...No, it wasn't his skin!

_More sand covering his body? How could that have fooled my eyes?_

Gaara raised his head up, the sinister look on his face growing even wilder as large fragments of his Sand Armor broke away from his head and upper body. He let out a long hiss like an angry cat. "You've proven my existence. Now...show me your blood!"

----------

From the shadows, a lone figure watched on.

_So much fighting going on,_ the man thought with a twisted grin on his face. _Everyone trying so hard for absolutely nothing. _

Shifting through the leaves, he spotted his first target: A large group of men standing as far away from any of the fighting as possible. From the center of the group, a portly, balding man was screaming some unintelligible nonsense.

Shigata Takara.

A low laugh escaped Masamuri's throat. This would be entirely too easy. Once Takara was dead, the rest of the Kusa army would lose morale, they would retreat back into the holes they crawled out of, and the gold would all belong to him.

Of course, he would have to do away with the Suna shinobi as well. Once they discovered that their teammate was dead there was a good chance that they would grow hostile. Better to take them out now so as not to have to worry about them later.

There was only one thing that could possibly muck up his plan now, and he was currently occupied with fighting against that sand freak. How the boy managed to see him in his astral form, even while inside of someone else, he would probably never figure out. As long as the redhead kept him busy (or killed him, that would be fine too), there would be no trouble. But if he couldn't...

After thinking the matter over, he decided it would be best to find a safe place to leave his body where no one but him would find. He'd have to be far enough away to escape discovery and to give him time to complete his jutsu, while still being close enough to be able to reach Takara before expiring. The boy had been able to push him out of Halek, but he hadn't hurt him. As long as he couldn't locate his physical body, he would be in no real danger.

He backtracked several meters and measured precisely the distance between himself and Takara. This would have to be enough. Dropping to the ground, he crawled beneath a large bush at the base of the tree. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, and formed a seal.

----------

Naruto trudged on, skipping the tree-jumping path, as he wasn't really feeling up to a lot of constant jumping. Kasumi had done wonders for the pain in his back, but he still felt more worn out now than he had in quite some time.

**"Looks to me like you could use a pick-me-up, huh mortal?"**

Naruto didn't slow down, though he had the sudden urge to punch himself in the stomach. "You just won't drop it, will you?"

**"You'll give in long before I give up,"** the demon rumbled from within him.

"We'll see about that," Naruto grumbled stubbornly.

There was a much larger rumble that Naruto took as a noise of exasperation from the Kyubi.

**"Look mortal,"** it spoke, in a more menacing tone than before. **"You and I are going to be stuck together for a very long time whether we like it or not. I think it would be in both of our best interests to come to some sort of general compromise. So I'll make this really easy for you: All you have to do is say four little words. Just say 'Please help me, Kyubi-sama', and I'll have you fresh as a daisy in no time. Sound good?"**

Naruto gave him four little words. "Go to Hell, fox."

The Kyubi was literally struck speechless by the statement. Naruto could actually feel the demon seething inside him.

**"FOOLISH MORTAL!"** the beast raged. **"I am the most powerful being in the entire world! I have an unlimited source of power at my disposal that could all be yours! How could you refuse such an offer?!"**

"Because I don't need it!" Naruto shouted right back, increasing his pace as though to somehow outrun the voice in his own head. "I don't want your help and I've never asked you for it! What sort of Hok...Kazekage would I be if I needed some demon to fight my battles for me? Besides, I've gotten this far on my own, haven't I?"

Kyubi considered his words resentfully**. "And how many times in the past month alone have you been face to face with death, boy? Will your luck continue to hold out for the rest of your life?"** The fox paused, then chuckled. **"I wonder though...perhaps the real reason that you don't want my help is because you may find out that you enjoy wielding that sort of power? You remember how it felt to defeat that Konoha traitor with my power; you did it with ease, he couldn't touch you. And you know the same would be the case with anyone else that you used it on. You would be invincible...and you just may find yourself wanting that power more and more. That scares you, doesn't it, boy? You're scared to death that you may someday turn yourself into the very monster that everyone has always seen you as."**

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. "I'm not afraid of anything, bastard fox, and I will never, EVER be like you! I can get as strong as I want without using you as a shortcut! Deal with it!"

Again the fox fell silent. **"You keep telling yourself that, mortal. It's going to make it all the sweeter when you finally break down and beg. And you will...you will."**

Snarling in anger, Naruto ignored the Kyubi's final barb and went back to running. According to Kasumi, he should be getting close to the mining site by now.

_You guys all better be okay. That means you too, Lee._

----------

The dust and debris had completely settled in the newly made crater before Lee wearily opened his eyes. He stared at the sky in extreme pain, remembering the only other time he had ever messed up the Omote Renge. It hadn't been all that long ago, around the time he had first learned it. He hadn't let go in time and had crashed headlong into the ground along with the training dummy he had been using. That time he had been knocked out for several hours and had been hospitalized for the next few days. Whether it was the rain that had softened the ground for him or just the fact that he had gotten stronger he wasn't sure, but he was already regretting not letting go like Kankuro had demanded.

Fortunately, he had won the match, of that he was certain. He didn't know how physically strong his opponent had been, but he was willing to bet it was far lower than his own. With luck the boy had only been knocked unconscious and not killed.

Slowly, he tried picking himself up off the ground, when a dark figure appeared above him.

"Do us both a favor and just stay down, will ya?"

Lee's bug-eyes widened in shock. "How are you-?"

Kankuro pointed into the crater next to him. Looking to his left, Lee realized that the body lying next to him, the one he had believed to be Kankuro's, was really the broken, mangled form of Karasu.

"You have no idea how long that's gonna take me to fix," Kankuro informed him dryly.

Lee felt a sharp pain shoot through his back as he sat up. "You managed to switch places with your puppet at the last second to escape injury."

"Pretty much." He decided it would be best to not tell him that the intensity of his own landing had broken his right ankle. "What do you say you give up?" He produced two short daggers from the inner folds of his black outfit. "Sensei told us not to kill any of you if we could help it, but if you want to keep going...I may not be able to help it."

Lee didn't move, trying to weight his choices. He was hurt, yes, but he still had the option of opening more of his Inner Gates and his real trump card. Victory would be assured if he did, but would it be worth it in the end?

He lowered his head. Gai-sensei would be angry with him if he were to open his other gates against an opponent who didn't wish to kill him. "I yield. If I had not been so reckless with using my Omote Renge, I may have won. I can only blame myself for this lose."

Kankuro gave him a sour look. "Yeah...or, you know, you could maybe give me, the guy who beat you, some credit for it."

If Lee heard him, he didn't show it. He leapt to his feet and raised his shaking fist to the sky, tears visibly running down his face in streams. "Gai-sensei! Please forgive my hot-headedness! I swear that I will train myself three times as hard from this day forward!" Then a bout of dizziness struck him and he collapsed in a heap in the crater.

"And here I was willing to bet my life that I'd never meet a person more annoying than the midget." Leaving Lee to recover, Kankuro crawled his way into the crater and began gathering the busted remains of Karasu. He picked up the disembodied head and stared woefully at it. "Sorry about that pal, but it was either you or me, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be me. Don't worry, though, we'll be terrorizing the neighbor kids again before you know it."

While picking up the remaining pieces, he took two long bits that had made up segments of Karasu's legs and, using a strip of bandage, fitted them onto his ankle for a makeshift splint.

Testing his ankle, he wrapped the rest of the pieces together and slung them over his shoulder. Nothing left to do but go see how the others were doing.

----------

The fight had really been over before it had even started. Temari was rather depressed by the outcome. When she saw that the girl had returned after her first attack, it had gotten her hopes up that maybe she had a bit more to offer than originally thought.

But in the end, her big finisher was just more weapons. It may have been more weapons than she was able to count, but all were useless just the same. The girl now lay unconscious at her feet, amid an area so full of bladed objects that anyone who hadn't been there before might mistake it for the remains of an entire army.

Now Temari was on to more pressing matters, as she stared mesmerized at the struggle still going on between the white-eyed boy and her brother.

In the last five minutes of watching them, she had seen three things that she though she would never see in her entire life: Someone actually lasting for five minutes with Gaara, someone who could almost completely neutralize Gaara's sand, and most importantly of all, someone who could actually HIT Gaara.

Through all of this, the worst-case scenario was taking place. While the boy's barrage of strikes didn't seem to have hurt Gaara, it had roused the attention of his Inner Self. Now Gaara's bloodlust was reaching its boiling point, and that was going to mean big trouble for her and everyone else if it wasn't quelled soon.

"You've gotta be kidding!" a voice from behind her shouted. "He's not dead yet?"

Temari didn't even bother to nod as Kankuro limped up beside her. She stole a quick glance at him out of the corner of her eye before focusing back on Gaara and Neji. "You ended up better off then I thought. I was fully expecting to have to carry you back to Suna."

"I'd have liked to see you try to beat that guy," he shot back. "Instead of picking on a cute girls that isn't in your league."

The greetings over with, their worry set back in. "He'll calm down again once he kills him, right?" Kankuro asked.

Temari shrugged. "We can hope."

"Hey, weren't we supposed to be getting some help from Ame a while back? What happened with that?"

She shrugged again. "Beats me, though right now I'm more worried about Gaara and Naruto."

"Oh yeah, the idiot's still gone, isn't he?" Kankuro snorted. "Probably ran back to that village to eat their ramen."

"Don't be stupid," Temari told him, giving him a small shove. The puppet master struggled to right himself, avoiding a possibly fatal fall onto the weapon-littered ground.

"Jeez, it was a joke," he grumbled. "He's probably just hiding somewhere so the Konoha guys don't find him."

Temari looked thoughtful. That would make more sense, but it didn't stop her from worrying.

----------

Baki was beginning to regret challenging this man. He knew from the start that he would be in for a tough fight, he just didn't think that he would be so outclassed in the areas of speed and power. The only weakness he had been able to find in Gai's abilities was that he was a strict taijutsu user who fought close-range. The obvious thing to do would have been to fight from a distance with his ninjutsu, but he wasn't being given that opportunity.

He was forced to stay in constant movement, leaping backward and swerving from side to side to avoid the piston-speed punches and kicks that Maito Gai was throwing at him. At the speed he was going, he couldn't even find a decent opening to strike back.

Not far off from where their fight was leading to, Takara and the members of his excavation squad were huddled, ready to run if the two jounin got any closer to them.

"Keep him away from me!" Takara screamed at Gai. "Kill him quickly before anything else goes wrong!"

Both men ignored the shouts of the portly man. Gai continued to shower blows down on Baki, while Baki continued to dodge, knowing well that he was going to have to come up with something soon. Staying on defense like this was not going to help him in the slightest. He had a desperate plan formed in his head if he could just get an opening for it; It would hurt like hell, but it was all he had to work with at the moment.

He began focusing chakra into both of his hands, and waited.

He didn't have to wait long at all before he saw his opening. Gai paused in his barrage to shift weight onto his left foot, spinning and bringing his other foot up in a wide arc, aiming a kick that could take his head clean off of his shoulders. Bracing himself, Baki brought his left fist up and connected with the incoming foot.

The impact was even worse than he thought it would be. Just as he felt his entire arm go numb, he released the built-up chakra in a blast of wind, which succeeded in knocking Gai off balance. Seeing his chance, he struck with his other hand, but for all his effort, Gai was faster yet. The taijutsu master sprung back with his one foot, landing sloppily from his already awkward position.

While he had managed to stop the onslaught, his limp arm also put an end to any plan for a counterassault. Taking the moment to rest, he popped his shoulder back into place and began shaking the feeling back into his arm, while Gai examined his chest, where a long, but fairly shallow diagonal line of blood had appeared.

_To willingly take such a damaging blow in the hopes of getting to hit me back..._ Gai grimaced; there weren't many men with the fortitude for that, though he himself had been known to do it from time to time.

Baki flexed his hand, checking for any broken bones. Feeling that there was no sever damage, he returned his attention to Gai. _He managed to avoid my Kaze no Yaiba...if I can't find some way of slowing him down this next time, I won't last._

The Suna jounin sneered in increasing frustration. This whole battle was growing more and more senseless by the minute. Where in the hell were the Ame reinforcements? Kasumi and Kazuya were also conspicuous by their absences. He wanted to hold onto the belief that they had been hindered by enemy shinobi somewhere else, but the more time passed, the more the whole thing reeked of one big set up.

There was going to be hell to pay if that were truly the case.

In the distance, the screams of Takara could still be heard, telling Gai to get back to work, do what he was being paid to do, follow orders and finish off the enemy, among many other things. Both jounin glared at the man. It reminded Baki of an old saying that his father used to quote a lot. _Sometimes, the worst part about the life of a shinobi is not having to obey orders, but having to listen to the orders that are being given._

His father had never been wiser.

Both being wary to attack again, Baki due to his obvious disadvantage and Gai due to his concern of his opponent's invisible weapon, they took a moment to scan the battlefield. Tenten had fallen to Temari despite her best efforts, neither Lee nor Kankuro were in a condition to continue, and the bloodlust that was radiating from Gaara as he tried repeatedly to crush the life out of Neji could be felt all the way across the battlefield.

If Gaara kept fighting at this rate, it would quickly spell trouble for not just the Konoha and Kusa men, but for the rest of them as well. That combined with everything else that had transpired made Baki come to a decision.

"Go gather your students," he told Gai. "This fight between us is over."

Gai eyed him suspiciously.

"Our employers have failed to uphold their word to us," Baki elaborated. "And since no one from Ame has come to give us further aid or orders, my team and I have no reason to keep fighting. We will pull back for now before Gaara gets too out of hand. I warn you, if that happens, even I won't be able to control his actions."

Gai had been a shinobi for too long to be won over by the mere words of an enemy, but he also heard the sincerity in the man's declaration. Scanning the battlefield again, he saw the boy in black standing by the girl, which left him to believe that Lee had lost as well, and now even Neji was beginning to lose what little ground he had gained against the redhead.

Obviously, the Suna team had the upper hand in this battle. There would be no need for Baki to deceive him by calling for a ceasefire unless what he was saying was true.

While he deliberated, neither he nor Baki noticed when Takara's manic shouting suddenly turned into gasps of pain.

----------

Neji leapt into a tree to avoid an extra large wave of sand, then sprang to the next one to avoid getting caught in its grip again. The battle was no longer in his favor, and he couldn't understand the reason why. Keeping his Byakugan activated for such an extended period of time while using his strongest techniques might have been trying on his chakra reserves, but the Suna boy had been manipulating his sand nonstop since their fight began, and yet his attacks were only growing in speed and fury rather than declining.

The difference in their power couldn't be this great, could it?

Still dodging, he saw his opponent's teammates watching them from a safe distance. Tenten was unconscious next to them. Further away, Lee was still awake, but having trouble getting to his feet again. The Hyuga's brow knitted. What was it about this Suna team that put them on a different level from his own?

Then, in the distance, he saw something that brought even more dread to his foul mood.

The cloud of chakra was back, and it was headed for Takara. Neji grimaced. He had never fully trusted the man since meeting him back in Kusa, but he was their daimyo and, for the moment, in charge of their mission. He had to help him.

And he would have, had a thin string of sand not snaked itself around his leg. It snapped up like a whip, and pulled him forcefully to the ground.

The fall hadn't hurt much, but it was enough to knock the wind out of him. He began sucking in breaths, trying to recover before the next attack came, but he couldn't see it because the distraction had caused his Byakugan to deactivate as well. Lifting his head up, he expected to see Gaara standing over him, or more sand barreling down on him, ready to bury him alive or rip him to shreds, but instead saw Gaara standing in the same place as before, clutching at his head as though he were suddenly suffering from a migraine.

Gaara growled and lowered his hands, then looked away from Neji, off to where Baki and Gai were standing. Perplexed at being ignored so suddenly, Neji followed his gaze to see what had caught his attention.

----------

Naruto burst through the last grove of trees into the opening of the mining site, and let out a sigh at the sight that greeted him.

_They're all still okay! Maybe I'm not too late after all!_

Naruto sprinted the final stretch of the field as fast as he could, heading straight for Baki.

"Sensei!" he shouted, drawing the attention of not just Baki and Gai, but Kankuro, Temari and Gaara as well. He stopped in front of the two jounin, opened his mouth to speak, and froze when he saw Gai staring at him.

_Oh shit, I forgot..._

"What in God's name happened to you, boy?" Baki questioned.

That question did a lot to calm him. On second glance, Gai was looking at him the same way Baki was: Not in recognition, but in wonder at how he had come to be in such a pitiful state. Shredded clothes, his whole body blistered, bloodied, face and chest smeared with mud...if he were to look in a mirror he doubted he'd be able to recognize himself. And thankfully Baki had been smart enough to not address him by name.

"That's not important!" he said quickly before Gai was able to get a better look at his face. "Sensei, have you seen Masamuri recently?"

Baki looked quizzical. "Masamuri? No, not since the meeting when the twins took him back to Ame. Why?"

"We have to find him! He was coming here to assassinate Takara!"

"Are you sure about that?" Gai asked him.

"Y-yeah," Naruto stammered, trying not to make eye contact with the man. "He set us up, sensei! He expected us all to die fighting against Kusa and Konoha without sending reinforcements. Then he's going to kill Takara and take all the gold buried here for himself."

If Baki were surprised by this news, he hid it well. "How does he plan-?"

The question went unfinished as an uproar was heard. The three turned to the sound, and saw the group of miners kneeling around Takara who was on his back, convulsing wildly.

"No!" Gai shouted, racing toward the daimyo.

"Now what's going on?" Kankuro asked as he and Temari joined Baki and Naruto.

"Damn! I was too late!"

"What's happening, Naruto?" Temari asked. From looking at the boy, that was just one of the many questions she had for him, but personal questions would have to wait until later.

"It's Masamuri," he explained. "He's using a kekkei genkai to split a phantom body from his real body. Now he's inside Takara and is destroying him from the inside!"

It took a few seconds for that knowledge to really sink into his listeners.

"Just like what happened to the old man earlier, huh?" Kankuro wondered aloud.

Baki thought quickly. "In that case, we need to find Masamuri's physical body and kill it."

Naruto shook his head. "That won't be enough. Kasumi told me that even if his real body is destroyed, his phantom body could keep living inside other people."

"Then how the hell are we supposed to fight that?" Kankuro yelled.

"Our only choice is to withdraw," Baki concluded. "We stand no chance against an opponent that we can't kill or even see."

Naruto again shook his head in protest. "But we can't just leave! What about the others?"

"You can't save everyone every time, kid," Kankuro stated bluntly.

Temari tried to voice her own opinion, but a sharp pain in her stomach stopped her, and she doubled over in pain.

----------

The phantom body of Masamuri laughed, a sound which no one else heard even though he was standing a mere foot away from some of them. He stared down at the still convulsing form of his nemesis. He always did enjoy the way their faces twisted in such peculiar ways after their insides were ripped apart.

"We must get him to a hospital!" one of the men cried.

"I think it's too late for that, but do what you can for him," the man in green told them sadly.

_You're not as dumb as you look,_ Masamuri thought. _He'll be dead in two minutes. Now then..._

Leaving Takara for the dead man that he'd soon be, he turned his attention to the Suna team. He didn't know why the Naruto boy was still alive or how he'd managed to get past Kasumi and Kazuya, but he already looked half dead. Of the others, the jounin, the redhead and the girl looked the healthiest. They would have to be the first ones to go before they had the chance to run away. He definitely didn't need all of Suna breathing down him back any time soon.

"Well then," he said with a grin as he eyed the young girl. "Ladies first, I suppose."

Without another second of delay, he passed into the body of Temari and set to work.

----------

"Temari!" Naruto cried, moving to the girl's side. Kankuro was quick to join him at her other side.

"Now what?" he shouted, having already grown sick of all the surprises taking place today.

"It's Masamuri again! He's inside Temari now!"

Kankuro's panic increased as blood began appearing from Temari's mouth. "Well what are we supposed to do!?"

Naruto's fists clenched in desperation. "I don't know...I don't know!"

----------

_"Kekkei genkai?"_

_"Yes, it's what he used to try to kill Halek earlier, and he'll use it again to kill Takara and anyone else that is still fighting out there, including your teammates."_

_"What is it then?"_

_"It's called Seikitai, or Astral Body. By accumulating a vast amount of chakra, Masamuri is able to split his body into a physical form and a 'phantom form'. While in his astral phantom form, his physical body grows deathly weak, but he gains the ability to enter other bodies. When he does, he releases his stored chakra which runs rampant through the victim, destroying their internal organs, and ultimately leading to their death."_

_"...So how do I stop him?"_

_"That's the problem. Once Masamuri's phantom form leaves his body and enters another, the only surefire way of stopping him is to kill the person he's in, then the phantom form will perish along with him and his physical body will be as helpless as an invalid."_

_"Isn't there any other way?"_

_"None that I know of. The phantom form can't be damaged through normal methods, and even if you kill his physical body, the astral form can live on so long as it has a body to inhabit. If you can't kill him before he leaves his own body, it's the only way."_

----------

Temari's violent coughing grew harsher, making Naruto feel more helpless than any other time in his life. How was he supposed to save her like this? There had to be some way that Kasumi didn't know of, there HAD to be! If Temari were to die right in front of him like this, he'd...

A sheet of sand made both boys instinctively jump back before they realized what was happening. By the time they did, Temari had been bound tightly within Gaara's Sabaku Kyu.

"What do you think you're doing?" Naruto cried as he furiously began clawing and digging at the mound of sand to reach the girl trapped within.

"I am going to destroy him," Gaara answered.

"But you'll kill Temari!"

"Yes."

Naruto froze. He turned to Gaara with horror in his eyes. "You..."

"She will die regardless, better that I kill him along with her," Gaara rationalized. He raised his right hand toward the sand prison.

Naruto's fist connected with Gaara's jaw with a sharp crack. The force knocked Gaara off his feet onto a floating blanket of sand that had formed a split second before he hit the ground. Kankuro gave a shrill cry of surprise while Gaara simply stared up at the darkened sky above him. The hovering mound of sand that enveloped Temari dissipated, dropping her in a heap.

Kankuro's good leg gave out beneath him and he fell backward onto the ground next to his sister. "He didn't. Tell me that idiot didn't just..."

Naruto's bloody eyes slowly turned back to their normal blue hue. "What kind of human being are you?" he demanded, his body trembling with rage. "You were actually going to kill your own sister, weren't you?"

From it's sealed prison, the Kyubi gave a growl of surprise and annoyance.

The sand beneath Gaara slipped away, setting him gently on the wet ground. He rose to his knees and placed two fingers to his split lip, pulling them back with a smear of blood at their tips.

_He hit me?_

_HE hit ME? _

_**HE...HIT... ME!**_

Naruto was about to turn around to check on the condition of Temari when he saw Gaara's body start to shake. He gave a fleeting glace behind him where Temari was lying on the ground next to a sitting Kankuro. She had stopped coughing, but beyond that he had no idea how she was doing. For his part, Kankuro might not have even realized that Temari was still there by the way his terrified eyes were glued to Gaara.

A low rumbling began resonating from the redheaded boy, and it wasn't until he raised his head from the ground that the others realized he was laughing a chilling, deranged laugh.

_Shit!_ Kankuro mentally cursed. _I was right! The only time Gaara laughs is when He takes control! Damnit, why did this have to happen now?_

"I KNEW IT!" Gaara rasped in a voice far deeper and more gravelly than normal. "I sensed YOU before! You're HIM, just like ME! THE FOX!"

Gai, who was returning after the others had carried off Takara, froze at Gaara's words. _Fox...?_

Kankuro stared back and forth between his demented brother and Naruto, trying in vain to make sense of what had just been said. Naruto's body tensed up with a feeling of impending disaster.

----------

The sand freak truly was insane. If the Naruto boy hadn't stopped him, he really would have killed the girl in order to kill him. He had to make a decision quickly, and there was no way he could afford to leave that one alone. He would have to be the first to die.

Unseen by all, the astral body of Masamuri drifted down into the body of Sabaku no Gaara.

He knew something was wrong the moment he entered. He was definitely inside the boy's body, but nothing seemed to be in place. Everything was pitch black, he couldn't feel any of the boy's internal organs around him, and yet everything felt so...heavy, nothing like how he normally felt when in someone else's body.

Nonetheless, he would have to work fast. There was no telling when the Konoha boy would recover, or worse, if another enemy got it into their heads to try killing the boy before he could escape again. But how was he supposed to start when he couldn't feel anything to destroy?

As he pondered, a pair of giant gold and black orbs appeared above him. A chill of terror passed through him when he sensed the presence of a menacing killing intent. Looking up, he saw the giant glowing orbs hanging above him, and directly below it, an enormous jagged maw appeared, releasing a breath that felt like the parched winds of the desert.

The astral man and demonic creature stared at each other before the creature gave a bloodcurdling scream.

_**"GEEET OOOUUUT!!"**_

Terrified beyond belief, Masamuri barely formed the seal to expel himself from the body before the thing was able to consume him.

At the same time, Gaara gave a shriek of pain and clutched at his head with both hands. Everyone else scattered back in terror, expecting the boy to snap at any moment. Gaara fell to his knees, still clutching and clawing at his head, and Baki took the time to scoop up Temari, who had gone still but was now watching the events through bleary eyes. Gai felt the time was right to get his students and run. The aura the boy was giving off had just grown twice as strong and five times as deadly in a matter of seconds.

As Gai moved toward him, Neji, for the first time in his young life, was doubting his own eyes. After the mass of chakra had left the girl's body and entered Gaara's, that strange black object lodged within his abdomen had flared with a dark light for the briefest of seconds, and the next moment the chakra cloud was out again, this time without having inflicted any damage on Gaara's organs.

_What is that guy?_

As he got to his feet, he saw Lee stumbling toward him, a still unconscious Tenten supported on his shoulder.

"What is happening, Gai-sensei?" he asked.

"Can you run with her?" he asked back, ignoring his question.

"I think so," Lee answered firmly before his knees began to buckle under the weight. Gai steadied him with one hand, and turned to Neji.

Sighing in understanding, Neji lifted Tenten away from his and positioned her on his back.

"As far as I can tell, the mission has fallen through, and we'll be retreating shortly," Gai explained.

"Retreating?" Lee repeated. "But what about-?"

"There's nothing else to achieve here," he cut in, sounding bitter. "Takara's been killed, and if we stay any longer, we could be next."

Lee nodded reluctantly. So they had failed a mission. Their first one since becoming a team last year. He thought back as he watched what was happening with the others, trying to think of what they could have done better to help them succeed, when he noticed a familiar figure.

_Uzumaki-san?_ he wondered, not sure if he was correct or not. The boy had a Suna hitai-ite and what looked like blond hair underneath the caked in mud on his head, but the boy himself looked like he'd just come out from a week in the Konoha Interrogation dungeon.

He tried to run to him, but crashed as his body gave out again.

"Lee, what are you doing?" Gai demanded, kneeling down at his side.

Lee grimaced, getting back up despite the disapproving cracks of his bones. "I apologize for being so weak, Gai-sensei. You trained me better than this."

Gai smiled despite himself. "It can't be helped, Lee. Luck just wasn't on our side today. We can at least count our blessings that we're all still alive and will be able to return home."

"Not yet, we can't," Neji commented, gaining his team's full attention. "I don't think we're out of the woods just yet."

----------

_What in the name of all things holy was that?_ _If I had been even a millisecond slower, that...thing would have devoured me completely. The boy is an even bigger freak than I thought. I've heard tales about humans with demons sealed inside them, but to actually meet one like this? And at such a delicate time..._

Masamuri cursed. His phantom body wouldn't be able to hold out much longer if he couldn't get into a body and stay in it for longer than a few seconds. At this rate, he'd have to return to his own body and that would give them all time to escape.

What had gone wrong? Everything should have played out perfectly, he should have won by now! But...

His eyes landed on the blonde brat, Naruto. That was it. It was that boy who had stumbled onto his plan in the first place. It was him that had somehow stopped Kasumi and Kazuya from coming to help him. He had screwed up everything!

Masamuri scowled down at him. If there was one person that he was absolutely not going to let get away, it was going to be that one. He would have to move fast, before the others had the chance to sacrifice the boy to get him, which was a shame. He really wanted this boy to suffer for a long time. Oh well, he also had to make some sacrifices.

He dove.

----------

Kasumi had just managed to finish mending the last cut on Kazuya's head when he began to stir.

"Brother?" she spoke cautiously.

His eyes opened slowly, staring up at his sister. "Kasumi? What-?" He sat up in a flash, staring down as his hand in disbelief. "That amateur actually beat me!?"

"Brother-" she repeated, sounding more desperate this time.

He whirled on her, grabbing her by the shoulders harder than intended. "How long have I been out?"

Kasumi flinched. "I...about ten minutes, but-"

"Then there still might be time!" He leapt to his feet and ran to pick up his dropped kodachi. "Let's hurry. There's a chance that they're still fighting out there-"

"Kazuya, stop!"

He froze and stared at her, confusion evident in his face. "What's wrong? We don't have time to stand around and talk or everything will be ruined! We can still-"

Kasumi ran to him and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. "Just stop this, brother," she sobbed. "Please, just...no more."

His confusion mounting even more, he pulled the girl away from his body so to be able to look her in the face. "I don't understand what you're saying, Kasumi. Stop what?"

"All of this! All of this revenge nonsense! I just can't take it anymore!" she forced out between sobs.

Kazuya's look of confusion and worry immediately turned to rage. "Did that amateur say something to make you-?"

"It's not Naruto, you fool! It's you! My God, Kazuya, look at what's become of you! You've gone insane! You're so obsessed with your vengeance that you were even willing to hurt me to accomplish it! The Kazuya that I've grown up with my whole life would never do that!"

Kazuya's arms fell limply to his side. "I...I didn't want to-" he said feebly.

"But you still did it!" Kasumi went on, still choking up from her emotional outburst. "If I didn't have medical jutsu knowledge, that attack of your could have killed me! And for what? So you could get your revenge on Masamuri and Takara and start a war between the countries?"

Kazuya's dark, guilt-ridden eyes dropped to the ground. "Kasumi," he spoke hopelessly. "I love you. You're my sister and the only real family I have now. But...but we've been working toward this moment for ten years now. Ten years of complete dedication to killing those two bastards and never once looking back. ...Do you really want to turn back now that we've come so close?"

Kasumi nodded firmly, brushing the tears from her face. "Getting to this point is what brought you to such a horrible state in the first place. I can't bear to see what might happen to you if we go any further." Slowly, she embraced him again, much more gently this time. "I just want my brother back. If I lose him, then I'll have nothing left."

The boy's entire body shook, trying to come to terms with what was happening. Did this mean that the last ten years of their life would be completely worthless? Would their home have to continue suffering as it had been just because his sister was having a change of heart? How could he just turn back now?

He couldn't! Not this late, not this close...

He couldn't just forgive and forget after all this time!

His fist clenched tightly around the hilt of his kodachi.

But he was going to have to, because it's what Kasumi wanted.

And the blade fell from his hand.

----------

"What is this!?" an utterly baffled Masamuri shouted. First it was the demon creature inside the sand user, and now this?

Once again, the area that he found himself in was devoid of any internal organs. In fact, the place more resembled a...a sewer. Murky water lay an inch deep on the floor, leading down a darkening corridor in front of him. And directly in front of him was a gigantic cage door. It was large enough that even if he had been in his physical body he could easily slip through the bars. But what then? Where in the bloody hell would this sewer lead him? And what the hell was it doing inside this boy's body?

Further questions froze in his throat when he felt it: A killing intent so sinister that it made the creature in the sand freak's body feel like a housecat in comparison. He could feel the very chakra sustaining his astral form being broken away by this new power.

There were many things that Masamuri was incapable of doing while in his astral form. Since he didn't have a solid form or organs of his own, such things included being able to tremble in fear, dying due to cardiac arrest, and urinating. This was fortunate, because as he stared in horror at the new sight before him, he would have done all three.

An enormous red face with even deeper red eyes was gazing at him in some sort of mild curiosity. The face and body of the thing swirled and billowed, as though it were just as formless as his own current form. The animal's jaw opened, showing off a row of very sharp, and very solid teeth. The mouth continued to stretch until it resembled a very feral grin.

**"My oh my,"** it's dark voice boomed. **"Company. How...**_**lovely**_**."**

This was the final push. Masamuri absolutely couldn't take any more of this. Forget the riches and the revenge! Forget everything else! He had to get out of here! Out of this body, away from this field, and back to Ame where he would never have to set eyes upon another freak from Suna ever again!

Like a bullet, he flew to the cage...and found himself stopped dead, and then yanked back in by some unseen force. Not stopping to question how or why, he tried passing through the ceiling, only to receive the same result.

He tried five more times to escape from the prison, all the while the Kyubi watched on in amusement.

"Ho...how is t-this possible?" Masamuri whispered in a trancelike state. "I...this body...it can't be held by anything!"

Kyubi laughed a loud, merciless laugh. **"In your last few moments of life, human, I advise you to direct your attention to that slip of paper up there on the door."**

Still petrified at the very sound of the fox demon's voice, the leader of Ame slowly inclined his head upward, his eyes coming to rest on a tattered slip of paper stuck to one of the bars.

His mouth opened, forming the word 'seal', but no noise accompanied it.

**"I'm afraid that's all there is to the little tour of my domain,"** Kyubi continued in a voice that could almost be conversational if it wasn't for the deathly undertones. **"So then, since you're my first official guest, and since it's been so long that I could care less which way we do it, I'll let you decide. Quick and Easy, or Slow and Excruciatingly Painful?"**

The Ame leader snapped from his stupor and pressed himself as far as he could into the corner of the prison. "S-s-stay away from me, monster! Don't come near me!"

The fox's eyes narrowed slightly, before another demonic grin appeared. **"Slow and Painful it is, then."**

"NO!" he screamed. "No, I don't deserve this! Leave me alone! Leave me al-AHHHHHHHH!"

----------

"What do we do now?"

"We have no choice. Takara-sama gave us orders. And even if he has been taken out, we must follow them."

"So we move in?"

"...Yes."

----------

"AAHHHH!" Naruto screamed, clutching tightly at his stomach.

Baki was at his side in a flash, careful to keep a trained eye on Gaara, who was now muttering softly to himself. "Naruto, is it him again?"

Naruto suddenly relaxed. He sat back on his feet, sweat running down his muddy face in quick beads. "I'm okay," he assured him. "I think...I think It got him."

"It?" Baki asked before it dawned on him. "You mean...the fox?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I felt them both for just a second, now I don't feel either."

_That didn't rule out the option that Masamuri fled from his body like he did with Gaara and Temari,_ Baki thought.

"What's happening to Gaara?" Naruto questioned.

_Damn_, Baki mentally cursed. "We need to get away before he wakes up any further. Can you move on your own?"

Naruto stared at him uncertainly. "Yeah, but what's going on? Who's waking up?"

Before Baki had the chance to answer, a large rustling of trees drew his attention away. Looking around, the group saw several armed shinobi leap into the clearing, moving quickly to surround both the Suna and Konoha teams.

It was Kankuro who summed up just about everyone's thoughts at the moment. "For the love of God! Is this giant clusterfuck of a battle ever going to end?!"

"Strike them all down!" one of the Kusa shinobi shouted to the rest. "Don't let Takara-sama's death go unpunished!" A loud cry of agreement resounded from the others.

Gai couldn't help but feel that the situation was growing hopeless. They were now faced with over twenty fresh enemies, none of his students were in any condition to fight again, and the same could probably be said for the Suna team. How were they going to get out of this one?

The Kusa army began to move in, when the ground began to shake. The rumbling grew harder, knocking several shinobi off their feet.

Baki lifted Temari into his arms. "Naruto," he shouted over the rumbling. "Help Kankuro! We have to get away now!"

Naruto gaped, confused. "What about Gaara?"

"That's who we're getting away from!" the jounin shouted frantically. "NOW MOVE!"

Naruto took only a split second to seek out Gaara, who was kneeling with his hands pressed firmly to the ground. He could barely see his face, but the part that he could see was contorted into a savage glower.

Not thinking twice, Naruto ran to Kankuro and positioned himself under the boy's arm, keeping his weight off his injured foot, and ran as fast as he could. In the other direction, Neji and Gai, carrying Tenten and Lee respectively, were doing the same thing.

"Stop them!" the lead Kusa ninja shouted.

As they began to give chase, the ground beneath them erupted in a large geyser of sand, sweeping them off their feet. Naruto and the others could feel themselves sinking into the sand below them, but pushed on even harder. Team Gai, who had further to run, felt strands of the sand grabbing onto them, attempting to pull them back. Neji, with the last of his chakra, slashed one-handed at the sand ropes, severing them. That bought them enough time to make it back to solid ground, but they didn't stop there.

Upon reaching the trees again, Naruto stumbled and fell to the ground with Kankuro. Kankuro bit back an insult as pain shot through him, feeling that now was not the time to be snide, though he would be sure to give the midget a punch when they were out of this. As they rose to their feet, Naruto turned back and lost his breath at the sight.

The sand had flattened the entire Kusa army, and was now lifting them high into the air.

"He's not going to...?" Naruto stammered.

Baki placed a hand on his shoulder. "When Gaara gets excited or angry, his Inner Self awakens. This is the result of that."

Naruto couldn't understand how Baki could sound so calm while watching this. And what was 'Inner Self' supposed to mean?

"Shouldn't we stop him?" he asked.

"There is no stopping him like this. We can only let it go, so that his Inner Self will be sated and returns to sleep."

The mass of sand stopped rising, now in the shape of a large sphere. Various screams of fear from the captives could still be heard as Gaara brought his hands above his head.

"Chinoumi: Sabaku Soso!"

And to the horror of four of the six conscious onlookers, the orb exploded, sending sand and blood showering down over the field and the last remaining person still standing among it, his face once again returning to a stoic mask.

----------

"In a way, we couldn't have been more fortunate to have those Kusa nin show up."

"Fortunate?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Baki said firmly. "If they hadn't been there, it would have been us who got crushed to death by Gaara."

Naruto let that soak in as his eyes drifted around the campsite. Being late as it was and with all of them in such bad condition, they'd barely made it a mile before being forced to stop to treat their wounds and set up camp.

They had found a stream nearby, which Naruto had used to wash away the mud and dried blood from his body. Upon his return, Baki had given him a spare cloak to wear until they got back to Suna.

Kankuro's leg had been properly wrapped, and he now lay asleep among the large pile of Karasu's parts that he had already started repairing.

A large, ugly bruise had spread across Baki's left hand and lower arm where it had connected with Gai's foot, but aside from that, he was fine, and was again staring deep into the campfire.

Temari shifted uncomfortably in her sleeping bag, catching Naruto's attention. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness since being attacked by Masamuri. All of her injuries had been internal, so there wasn't much that Baki could do for her, and Naruto had stayed right by her side just in case.

Her eyes fluttered open and gazed at Naruto. "Hey," she said weakly.

He crouched down next to her, eyes filled with concern. "How do you feel?"

She grinned softly. "Hurt like a bitch...but I'll live."

Naruto sighed. "That's good."

Temari chuckled, which turned into a painful cough. Naruto grimaced and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Temari-neechan. If I'd gotten there sooner I could have stopped him from-"

"Shut up, Naruto," she told him with no real force behind it. "I don't need you beating yourself up over it. Besides, if you hadn't found out what Masamuri was planning in the first place, then we might all be dead, right?"

"...I guess so," he relented.

"Good." She shifted her body again, feeling another small pain in her stomach. "So whatever happened to you? I was getting worried."

Naruto lifted his head again, and Temari could see the surprise on his face.

"Y...you were?"

She nodded, feeling slightly awkward all of a sudden. "Of course. You were the one I was most worried about."

He felt his heart swell at the admission, but the feeling was only fleeting. "Because I'm still the weakest?"

Temari glared at him. "Don't you start talking like that Kazuya creep," she warned. "If we hadn't been on a mission with him, I'd have beat the snot out of him for the way he was treating you and the rest of us."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, wondering what her reaction would be when he told her what actually happened.

"And no, it's not because you're the weakest," she added, suddenly feeling the darkness close in on her again. "It's because we're friends, and friends look out for each other."

Her eyes closed too soon for her to see the look of joy appear on his face.

_Friends. Not just teammates, not just someone that she's being forced to put up with, but friends._

He never thought that it would feel so good to be accepted like that.

...And He had tried to kill her. The only person besides Lee who had called him a friend, and that bastard had tried to kill her! He glared fiercely at Gaara, standing far off from the rest of the camp looking as blank as ever, as though he hadn't just slaughtered an army of shinobi all by himself, as though he hadn't intended to kill his own sister without the slightest bit of remorse.

He was not going to let that stand for long. He'd make him pay for that soon.

----------

Gai watched the sleeping forms of his students, all of whom had some serious recovering to do. Who would have guessed that the mission would turn out so horribly, or that they would be facing such powerful opponents? Then there had been the betrayals on both sides, and about a dozen things that he couldn't find answers for. The whole mission didn't even feel worth it anymore.

Who exactly was that Gaara boy? He knew ANBU back in Konoha who didn't have that kind of power.

That made him think of the other boy. The one that Gaara had called 'the Fox'. He wished that he could have gotten a better look at the boy, or at least caught his name. Fox...that didn't necessarily mean it was 'him', right? 'Fox' could have meant something else; a nickname, a title...Was it really just a big coincidence? The odds of Uzumaki Naruto joining the ranks of Suna and just happening to show up on the same mission as them was probably a one in a million shot. If only they hadn't been forced to flee so quickly...

Well either way, it would still be a good idea to report it to the Hokage. Just in case.

----------

Several hours passed, and Naruto lay wide awake in his tent thinking about the first mission he'd ever had. Now that it was all over with, he still felt that something needed to be done about it. Apparently, both Takara and Masamuri were dead, and there was a chance that that would be enough to stop the war from happening, but he still felt bitter. A lot of people had died or gotten hurt, which he knew would be unavoidable in the end, but would there be more fighting and more deaths tomorrow or the next day? Would both sides come seeking some ill-conceived retribution against the other?

And what about Kasumi and Kazuya? And their village, what would they all do now?

Still deep in thought, he climbed out of his tent and started walking into woods.

"Where do you think you're going?" Baki asked.

Naruto barely faltered. He had thought that Baki was asleep like the others.

"Gotta pee," he answered.

Baki studied him, then turned away without another word. As the boy walked off, his eyes fell onto the dying embers of the fire. Kyubi container or not, a mission like this one had to be a bit traumatic for a child's first time. But he had performed well enough, and he was sure to grow from it.

With the mission over with, that still left Baki with his...other problem that the Kazekage had assigned to him. He glanced over at Gaara, who appeared to be sleeping, though Baki knew better. He had seen only one possible opportunity during their fight, and he probably could have taken it if he'd wanted to. But he'd frozen at the last second, the consequences of a mishap all too apparent to him. The Kazekage would have to understand. After all, he hadn't made it a direct order...

He heard Naruto return and silently crawl back into his tent. His inner turmoil pushed aside, the exhausted jounin closed his eyes again, drifting into a very light sleep, ready to wake at the mere sign of trouble.

----------

A shadowy figure approached the mining site, which still bared the scars of the deadly battle that had just taken place. The broken bodies of the Kusa nin still littered the ground. The previously rocky ground had been transformed into a miniature desert, and the air reeked of blood.

It was a gruesome sight, but he wasn't here for the view. He had work to do, and little time to do it.

----------

It was midmorning when Kazuya and Kasumi reached what used to be the gold mining field. They were so surprised by the sudden change to the landscape that it took them several long seconds to notice the handful of Kusa shinobi already there. Kazuya was quick to reach for his kodachi, but the Kusa nin raised their arms in a gesture of peace.

"Please wait," a young man named Yoshihide spoke, moving toward them. "There's no reason for us to fight again."

Kasumi relaxed while Kazuya kept his hand on the hilt. "What in the world happened here?" the girl asked.

Yoshihide sighed in distress. "That kid from Suna, the one with the big gourd and red hair, he did this. Turned the ground and rock into sand and crushed an entire regiment of our soldiers with it."

The twins stared at him like he was making a bad joke, but with the evidence right in front of them, they found themselves nodding. Since being shown up by Naruto the night before, it was taking a lot more to shock them again.

"But where are the bodies?" Kasumi asked. "Is that what you were doing here?"

"Or were you digging for the gold?" Kazuya asked, receiving a look from his sister.

The Kusa nin scratched his head. "Well, we were planning to come here to bring the dead back to Kusa, but when we got here they were already buried." He gestured to the far end of the field where several long sticks were seen sticking out of the sand. "We'll probably still take them all back to Kusa so they can be buried properly," he continued. "But...as for the gold...it seems that most of it is gone."

"Gone?" an aghast Kasumi said.

Kazuya's hand reflexively unsheathed his blade. "Don't play games with us! I'm in no mood-"

He stepped back, bringing his hands back up in front of him. "No games, honest! I admit, we first got here about two hours ago, and when we saw the others already buried, we decided to start searching for it. We started where the workers had begun yesterday but we didn't find anything. When we started moving outwards to where the sand ended we found a little bit, but it seems that the majority of it was destroyed when that kid turned the ground into sand."

"You mean it was all dissolved?"

"That's a possibility, I guess. There's probably a fortune of powdered gold still here, but among all this sand..." he shrugged helplessly.

Kazuya cursed under his breath and turned away, not letting his grief show.

Kasumi held onto hope. "You said that you found some still intact though, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah, there's definitely still some left here. I can't even guess how much, though not nearly enough to bother fighting over again...not worth losing more comrades..." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, that reminds me. Halek-sama gave us a message to deliver to any Ame shinobi that we met."

"Halek-sama?" Kasumi questioned.

"Yeah, Takara-sama died last night as well," he told them, making Kazuya turn back to him in awe. "It was the same thing that happened to Halek-sama, but he died before we could get him back to Kusa. Since he had no immediate successors, as his closest associate, Halek-sama was put in charge until a more suitable candidate could be named. He's still bedridden from that strange attack yesterday, but he's awake and of sound mind. In any case, he wanted to offer Ame one more declaration of peace, without any tricks or deception this time."

The twins shared an apprehensive look. "And we're just supposed to believe that?"

"I guess I don't really expect you to, but Takara-sama never had any intention of holding up to his end of the treaty before. Halek was fearful that his greed would do more harm than good to the rest of us, but...he couldn't risk going against the daimyo's orders, you know? But with him gone, perhaps you can convince Masamuri-san to reconsider?"

Kasumi looked back at her brother again. The look he gave was clearly translated as 'No need to tell them if they don't already know.'

"We will...see to it that Masamuri-sama receives your message."

"Thank you," Yoshihide said, bowing to them both. "I should get back to work. As a show of good faith, please tell the rest of your men that they're welcome to dig alongside us. There's no telling if there's much left, but we're willing to split the findings."

Kazuya sighed deeply and began walking away. Kasumi gave a quick 'We will' before following after him.

"Brother?" she said softly as she slowed to match his pace.

He laughed. It was a shallow sound devoid of humor. "Even if the amateur hadn't stopped us, we still wouldn't have been able to do anything, would we? We might even have ended up dead along with all those Kusa nin."

Kasumi remained silent, but she still sympathized with him.

"Does this mean I should be grateful to that little bastard?" he rambled on as they left the mining area. "I mean, he stopped us from doing something that we would have regretted farther down the road, but what did we actually get out of this?"

"Takara is dead," she answered. "He may not have died at our hands like we hoped, but his sins have been punished for. As for Masamuri-"

Kazuya brought his arm up in front of her, bringing her to a stop. She went to question his action, but stopped when they both heard a low-pitched moan from nearby. Hearing it a second time, they walked to a large gathering of brush at the base of a tree and pushed it aside. Both twins' eyes hardened at the sight of the sickly, near-motionless Masamuri they had found.

"His kekkei genkai is still active?" Kasumi wondered aloud.

Kazuya didn't respond, just unsheathed his kodachi. As he brought it up, he stopped and looked at his sister, as though he were seeking her approval. Steeling herself, Kasumi nodded, and with a single slash, Kazuya ended his former master's life, making certain to put every last bit of pent-up hate, rage, and thoughts of vengeance into it.

Masamuri slumped down without a sound, and the twins felt the weight of ten years of suppressed pain and anger lifted from their bodies. As he started to re-sheath his blade, Kazuya stopped, and reached up and sliced off the Amegakure hitai-ite from around his head. Handing the blade to his sister, he watched her do the same.

With tears of relief in her eyes, Kasumi smiled. "Let's go home, brother."

----------

Arc Epilogue

----------

It was a very long three miles back to the village. There was a deep sense of melancholy about the Twins. They were happier than they had been since the attack on their village, but things still didn't feel right. Masamuri had killed Takara, and they had killed Masamuri. In a sense, their ten-year mission was complete. But without the gold to bring back home and no way of making their village prosper again, it made it a rather empty victory.

As they entered the village, they noticed a great deal of racket going on from the town square.

"What's going on?" Kasumi wondered.

"Maybe they've already heard about Takara's death?" Kazuya guessed.

Curious, they began walking faster, until the reach the crowd in the square.

"Kas-chan! Kaz-kun!" a female voice rang out above the shouts and cheers of the crowd.

"Izumi-san?" Kasumi greeted, spotting the middle-aged woman pushing her way toward them. "What's all this about?"

"It's wonderful!" Izumi gushed. Grabbing them both by the wrists, she began pulling them through the mass of people. "Come look! Come look!"

More confused than ever, the twins allowed the lady to direct them to the center of the rowdy crowd.

"Izumi-san, can't you just tell us what's-?"

Kasumi's words died in her throat. Sitting on the stone road directly in front of them was no less than thirty gold nuggets of various size. Both she and her brother stared frozen, open-mouthed at it, fearing that if they so much as blinked or looked away it might suddenly vanish.

"I couldn't believe my eyes either!" Izumi went on. "I just woke up this morning and was going to the store, when suddenly I find this pile of gold sitting right here in the middle of the street! Was this your doing, you two?"

Neither answered, but in their minds, both were coming to the same conclusion. It was crazy to believe, but for someone like him. Kazuya turned and stared off into the distance.

"Kazuya?"

The former shinobi bowed his head, letting his long hair cover his grin. _You ended up surprising me yet again...Uzumaki Naruto._

----------

As the group walked, Gaara far out in front, Kankuro using a slightly repaired arm of Karasu as a crutch, Temari leaning on Naruto for support and Baki bringing up the rear, Temari made a strange discovery.

"Naruto, didn't you wash yourself last night?"

The sudden question made him blank. "Yeah, why?"

The wind mistress wrinkled her nose. "You didn't do a very good job then. You still smell like blood...and you still have sand in your hair."

Naruto laughed nervously. "G-guess I'll have to make a stop at the next lake we pass by, huh?"

Behind him, Baki's eyes narrowed. Last night, had he really...?

He rolled his eyes and sighed. _That renegade personality will be the death of you yet, Uzumaki. ...Or of me, for that matter._

"No kidding!" Kankuro interjected. "Would you do me the favor of staying downwind of me, midget?"

"Shut up! You're just upset that I've gotten to see how ugly your real face is without all the cover-up!"

_But for now, perhaps having someone like him around is just the thing that this team really needs._

End Chapter 11

A/N: In case it's not apparent, when Naruto 'went to pee', he sent back a Kage Bunshin and went off to the site himself. And as far as I can surmise, the gold among the sand would still be intact because Gaara's technique only separates minerals from stone to create sand, so it shouldn't affect gold...I don't think. Also, the word 'chinoumi' that Gaara used toward the end means 'Sea of Blood'. It just seemed appropriate.

Twenty thousand words. That's more than a third the size of the entire rest of the story. I've never written anything so long and I probably never will again. Mainly because I didn't like it, but I wanted to end this arc of the story as soon as possible, so...

Reading back over this, I think my own biggest concern was that I put myself in over my head by trying to have too many things going on at once. The last half of the story felt especially sloppy to me, but considering all the time it's taken me to write it, I have no intention of going back and fixing it once again unless it's really really really necessary. Maybe not even then. Like I said, I've grown to hate this godforsaken chapter and I hope to never have to write another one like it again. On the other hand, I can only hope that you readers enjoyed reading it more than I enjoying trying to write it, and I especially hope it was at least sort of worth the extra long wait.

Until next time,

LL


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Romance